In his first Celtic Park appointment of 2019 John Beaton has shown once again that he is not capable of applying the laws of the game.
Close to the end of the first period of extra-time during Celtic;s Betfred Cup tie against Dunfermline Mikey Johnston fired a shot towards goal from the edge of the penalty box.
The onrushing Josh Coley threw up his hands to block the shot, deflecting the ball for a corner. Beaton was within ten yards of the incident, acknowledged Coley’s contact but later indicated that he had used his head rather than an arm!
If Beaton can’t distinguish between an arm and a head he shouldn’t be anywhere near refereeing in the professional game where bonuses are at stake as Tom Boyd stated during his match commentary:
What does John Beaton not know about the new rules. If he doesn’t know that that should be a penalty he should not be in the middle of the park refereeing a football game.
He really should be well aware of the new rules regarding hand-ball although in this case last season’s rules easily cover it with Coley throwing his arms up to make contact with the ball. Had Beaton watched his good friend Bobby Madden in charge of the Motherwell v Hearts match on Friday night he would have found a perfect example of the new handball/penalty ruling.
1 hour 14 min 30 seconds into second half coverage on Celtic TV
Gerry McDade, Celtic TV: That looks like handball
Tom Boyd: Ah referee, he’s got to give it, it’s a penalty
GM: Is he giving it?
TB: No he’s not, he’s bottled out of it
GM: A strong challenge coming in, Scully on Jullien, it looked like handball, we’ll need to get a look at that one again Tom. Let’s have a look at it again, Christie swings it across, challenge comes in, a clash between the two players
TB: That’s a penalty, it’s a penalty kick. His arms are up, in an unnatural position, it’s a stonewall penalty and once again Celtic denied by a decision by the referee, the referee has bottled that.
GM: That is the best save of the afternoon, I say that with all due respect to Ryan Scully who has been in excellent form for Dunfermline this afternoon, that should have been a penalty to Celtic 12 minutes into extra-time
TB: That is an absolutely scandalous decision by John Beaton, we’ve seen that before on many occasions
GM: Coley coming in, unquestionably a handball
TB: It’s unquestionably a penalty as well, a handball, that was a stonewall penalty kick as clear a penalty kick. In the light of day he is putting his hand towards the ball, heading towards goal. What does John Beaton not know about the new rules. If he doesn’t know that that should be a penalty he should not be in the middle of the park refereeing a football game.
CTV: You heard it from Tom Boyd, telling it as it is
TB: Probably welcome down his pub tonight, again
It’s not the first time that Beaton’s decision making has been called into question during matches involving Celtic.
Following the December derby at Ibrox in which Alfredo Morelos went unpunished for attacks on Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tony Ralston Celtic issued a statement:
In order to fully understand what is going on, Celtic, our supporters, Scottish clubs and the general Scottish football public need transparency in these matters, and we therefore call on the Scottish FA to allow the referee, John Beaton, to explain these decisions publicly as well as any match officials involved in other similar circumstances.
That request was completely ignored by the SFA with no follow up from Celtic. The hoops revisit Ibrox in a fortnight with Beaton or Madden likely to be in charge with Tory MP Douglas Ross looking to be assistant in that fixture for the fourth match running
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