WHISTLE STOP
Celts lead the calls to bring in refs from abroad after stormy summit on game’s refereeing crisis
REVOLUTIONARY plans to draft in foreign referees to Scotland’s top flight are to be tabled on the back of a stormy secret summit between the SFA and the country’s top clubs.
The governing body have agreed to consider a historic overhaul of their own disciplinary rule book after holding showdown talks with all 12 of the country’s Premiership clubs at Hampden on Monday.
And, at the end of what has been described as heated discussions, chief executive Ian Maxwell, compliance officer Clare
Whyte and refs’ chief John
Flemming, the clubs were given a mandate to draw up a dossier of demands they want rushed through and rubber-stamped before the start of the next campaign.
That is set to include a call to hire in officials from outwith Scotland’s borders – a motion which is being driven by champions Celtic but which is believed to be garnering support of others
A working group made up of a number of top flight clubs will now be set-up with a view to urgently addressing the current standard of refereeing as well as the controversial judicial review process.
It’s understood, while
Whyte strongly stood her ground during
Monday’s meeting, consensus was reached around the table to explore a raft of radical reforms to the current system.
Celtic are keen to play a major role in drawing up these recommendations and they are behind a proposal to recruit officials from other countries, including England, Wales and Ireland.
Manager Brendan Rogers has already floated the idea when he publicly called for Scotland’s pool of elite whistlers to be supplemented by referees from outwith the country’s own borders.
And club ambassador Tom Boyd (below) went even further by calling for ‘neutral’ officials to be shipped in from abroad.
Boyd’s remarks brought back memories of the refs’ strike of November 2010 – a crisis which saw the SFA source replacement officials from Israel, Luxemburg and Malta.
While the SFA are unlikely to back such a proposal they are willing to listen to any ideas put forward by the clubs. Rangers have also criticised the SFA’S disciplinary procedures and, in particular, of Whyte’s handling of her role as compliance officer.
On Monday Ibrox chief Stewart Robertson (left) launched a stinging salvo at Hampden’s sixth floor.
He said: “We are effectively re-refereeing games and that’s placing intolerable pressures on the referees, which then places pressure on the compliance officer. “We should be looking to go back to the way the situation was previously which is violent conduct and off the ball incidents that should be reviewed.”