The Scottish Senior Football Referees’ Association has accused managers of trying to turn ‘fan ire’ on to match officials to deflect away from performances and results.
There was a high number of contentious decisions made at the weekend with Neil Warnock angry over a penalty awarded against Aberdeen while Celtic and Kilmarnock have put in appeals against red cards issued to players.
With VAR in operation for 17 months there shouldn’t be any debate over a player being sent off when two VAR officials and the match referee can review incidents from multiple angles.
Brendan Rodgers‘ comments from Tynecastle caught most of the media attention, it seems inevitable that the Celtic boss will be hit with a disrepute charge and asked to explain his comment on John Beaton being incompetent.
With an almost complete media blackout from the SFA to discuss and explain decisions there is a vacuum in the news cycle that leaves managers, players and supporters frustrated at the lack of transparency and accountability.
Reacting to the events over the weekend, Glasgow Times reports the SSFRA stating:
It has become too easy throughout the course of this season for managers and clubs to turn the focus – and resultant fan ire – on to match officials, often to deflect from team performance and results.
We fully appreciate the importance of matches, especially now as we head into the defining period of the season for the destiny of the championship, European and top-six places, as well as relegation and play-off matters.
Nonetheless, match officials should be able to carry out their duties without fear of them impacting their personal lives, their personal safety and the safety and security of their families.
It is regrettable that criticism, which we generally accept is a part of the game for players and coaches as well as referees, has become much more frequent, disproportionate, and personalised towards our members.
Everyone involved in Scottish football has a responsibility to behave professionally and respectfully and to understand the consequences of their actions.
Celtic will find out the outcome of their appeal against the red card issued to Yang Hyun-jun this afternoon after a meeting of the SFA Disciplinary Committee at Hampden.
Well see if the officials do there jobs correct stoodie cheating our being biased just like john loyalist beaton who should be know were near a celtic game same with dickinson dallas muir collum clancy walsh few others these officials know what they are doing especially loyalist beaton on VAR this wanker could cost us the title and if he does then i wouldn’t like to be the cheat but no doubt the corrupt sfa.spfl will agree with cheating beaton and if so i hope celtic take this further and get all this cheating out of our game its got worse since VAR has started and we all seen sunday game how beaton made sure hearts got the 3 points..WEE RAT
JM, believe or not, Nick Walsh comes from a Celtic supporting Glasgow family, albeit he has been victim of significant tragedy in his life, for which he has my infinite sympathy. However, as a referee, he is as much an Uncle Tom as Collum and Clancy.
What is it with cafflicks: who enter a profession predominantly anti-catholic, so feel that to be worthy of their colleagues’ approval, they have to fk Celtic over even worse than the rest do. And to make sure when officiating the establishment team, they make so many honest mistakes in their favour. Unfortunately, loads like that in Scotland.
I know a guy who called himself “Eric’ at work, when his name was Patrick and he was known to all and sundry as Pat. You could have pulled his finger nails out and he would never have admitted he was a Catholic and a Celtic supporter. It’s people like him, Collum, Clancy and Walsh, that help to keep their own kind at the back of the bus. Lowest of the low.
Fcuk being like that idiot called ‘Eric’ that you know Arun…
He should bang the drum loud and proud about his faith and the football club that he supports –
I certainly would and actually do…
He sounds like the runt of the litter in his family acting in that manner –
He’s probably not alone in this rancid wee football country though !
I notice the refs did not issue such a back up for willie but do so for brother beaton whats the differnce between them? …oh ! Wait , let me grab my coat.
Be very surprised if red is overturned they will have to back the cheats, the ref made two decisions then had to change them shows you the failure of his decision making should be banned from any more of our games same with Beaton.
“Everyone involved in Scottish football has a responsibility to behave professionally”….is drinking in The Crown in Bellshill, celebrating and posing for pics with The Rangers fans, after a game which you have officiated, where your contentious decisions have directly impacted on the result PROFESSIONAL?
The patronising self righteousness in their statement, I’m at a loss for words
And of course, that referees’ statement makes no reference to
the match officials themselves improving their standards,
which also could be a root cause of the complaints and
criticisms?
Our refs are too dodgy even for the well-dodgy FIFA & UEFA! 🙁
Any ref Oor var official wilfully influencing a decision should be nowhere near ANY FOOTBALL MATCH.
Beaton has been cheating for over a decade…..why do we and all other teams put up with it.
The blue pound is a cancer in our game.
Instead of blaming everyone but themselves maybe they should get decisions correct