Former referee James Bee has lifted the lid on the close shop set up that is infuriating managers, fans and referees.
Regardless of their performances the same tight circle of referees get to control the top matches, enjoy the lucrative international trips and pick up the match fees from the top division.
Steven McLean, Andrew Dallas, John Beaton and Kevin Clancy have regularly been involved in high profile errors this season but after the briefest of spells out of the spotlight return to take charge of the highest profile matches.
Within the Category 1 referees there is an elite group on the FIFA list which includes the four listed above with Bee highlighting how the FIFA list is drawn from three referee associations.
Speaking to the Sunday Herald the former Category 2 referee explained: “This isn’t just about Fifa referees – it goes wider than that. There are others at Category 1 level who are treated differently [from their colleagues] as well.
“There appears to be a geographical bias favouring referees from three central belt associations to the detriment of the others.”
The Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire associations supply the seven current FIFA rated refs, the last one from Edinburgh was Calum Murray who retired in 2013, the last Ayrshire ref on the list was in 2007, in Fife it was 2000, and Aberdeen 1999.
Andrew Dallas was promoted onto the FIFA list before he had taken charge of a Celtic match.
Bee added: “There’s nothing wrong with every country appointing who they believe to be the seven top referees to the Fifa category. What has been questioned is how these decisions are arrived at – and what the process is behind them.”
