Beatonwatch- Double standards from February 2024
John Beaton’s unique interpretation of the Laws of the Game will come under scrutiny at Hampden today when the Disciplinary Committee of the SFA hear an appeal by Celtic against the red card given to Yang Hyun-jun against Hearts.
The Laws of the Game are international, laid out by FIFA but it seems that one match official from Bellshill applies them in very different ways depending on which club is involved.
From a standing position Yang raised his boot to control a bouncing ball, Alex Cochrane of Hearts charged in then fell to the ground holding his face. Don Robertson awarded a free-kick and yellow card but after prompting from Beaton upgraded it to a red card leaving Celtic with 10 men for 75 minutes.
Elite exponent of the ‘Scottish handball rule’ and the ‘Scottish high boot rule’, John Beaton, can be seen here not sending off Goldson for the red card offence of endangering an opponent.
Goal stood.
Referee John Beaton.
Feb 2024. https://t.co/ZegowvMdq1 pic.twitter.com/72ZWSYuUjW— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) March 5, 2024
Incredibly, at Ibrox on February 3 for the visit of Livingston Beaton took a very different approach the dangerous play from Connor Goldson.
As a corner was swung into the goalmouth the former Shrewsbury ace raced in and raised his leg Kung Fu style towards David Carson who was trying to clear the cross.
The ball broke to Fabio Silva who netted in the 40th minute to relax the nerves around Ibrox with the home side going on to win 3-0.
Not only did Beaton refuse to red card Goldson he didn’t even award a free-kick, allowing the goal to stand to the delight of his friends in the Crown Bar in Bellshill. If he was unsighted he shouldn’t be anywhere near important Premiership matches.
David Dickinson on VAR decided that the incident wasn’t worth reviewing.
