REFFIN’ SHAMBLES
Foreign refs were duped into thinking they were coming on an exchange scheme and some turned around at the airport but 10 years on the issues that caused the strike have still to be resolved
THE Portuguese delegation landed at Glasgow Airport, took one look at the back page of the Daily Record and got on the first plane home.
A team of officials from Malta were down to do the Beith Juniors cup tie against Airdrie but when they found out they could be needed at Easter Road decided the pitch was unplayable.
A whistler from Luxembourg who did make his game went to Celtic Park and was accused of being worse than Scottish refs when he awarded a dodgy goal.
Scottish football has had some crazy times over the years but the referee strike of November 2010 was right up there with the nuttiest.
It’s been a decade since the SFA’s men in black decided enough was enough and they were hanging up their whistles for a weekend, sending the Scottish game in to chaos.
Charlie Richmond was among the officials on the picket line but the sad thing is, 10 years on and he reckons absolutely NOTHING has changed.
Officials are still in the firing line. They have their integrity questioned by managers and players, which acts as dog whistles to supporters who have made abuse more targeted and more personal than ever before.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Richmond said: “It would be great to be sitting here a decade on saying the strike was the line in the sand that made a huge difference in this country.
“But it just wouldn’t be true. Are things better now? No – nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.
“There’s been a few concepts taken forward such as changing the articles of association, with rules over questioning officials in terms of bias and integrity.
“There’s also a compliance officer to deal with these things when they arise.
“But if you look over the last 10 years, there still has b een a constant stream of incidents, whether it’s referees being criticised personally, inference of bias, innuendo.
“You look at last season where you have criticism of the likes of Willie Collum, the abuse of John Beaton that got to a ridiculous level.
“There are still major problems that the strike didn’t cure. I can’t say I’m surprised.
“I remember about three weeks after we came back from the strike John Hughes came out and slaughtered an official – I remember thinking, ‘come on Yogi, it’s only been a month!’”
Not much has changed but it was certainly a weird time.
Richmond said: “There was a lot going on. The ‘Dougie Dougie’ McDonald penalty incident with Celtic at Tannadice was the catalyst when it emerged the whistler had told porkies to his supervisor about the decision and all hell broke loose.”
It had been brewing for a while, mind you, but the investigation from the SFA left refs “at the end of their tether”, according to experienced match official Kenny Clarke.
McDonald retired, the refs went on strike, the SFA started hammering the phones looking for replacements.
Richmond said: “Hugh Dallas was there at the time and he had a lot of contacts at UEFA. He was phoning all over Europe.
“They tried England, Wales and
Over the last decade there’s been a constant stream of incidents CHARLIE RICHMOND ON REFS COPPING ABUSE
Ireland, but those guys refused. Germany, Spain, France, you name it, the big nations didn’t want anything to do with it.
“They ended up getting the officials in from Israel, Malta and Luxembourg.
“They flew in a couple of teams from Portugal but they didn’t know what they were getting into. They landed at Glasgow, found out, and got on the first plane back home.
“A group was down to do the Beith cup tie, but they were told they would be needed at Easter Road if their game was off. You can imagine they took one look at the pitch at 9am and called it right away – and headed straight to Edinburgh.
“If y ou were coming all the way from Matla, where would you rather referee, Beith or Easter Road?
“There were a few noses out of joint at the time among officials but it became clear in the days and weeks that followed that these guys who came over had been duped.
“They had been told they were taking part in a referee exchange scheme. It really wasn’t fair on them.
“I know a few of them said they regretted going ahead with the games as they would have chosen to stand with the Scottish officials.
“It just showed you though. The most experience one was Alain Hamer from Luxembourg, who was on the FIFA list. He made a mistake in the
Celtic game with Inverness Caley, and if he had been Scottish he would have been absolutely hammered for it.” The dust settled and the game resumed, but the same old problems remain. Referees are still in the cross hairs of managers too often but Richmond reckons there’s a temporary ceasefire right now. He said: “It has been strange with the fans not being at games. There doesn’t seem to be as many controversies this season. When you look at last year, it was as bad as ever, but it’s maybe cooled off this year as there isn’t the same intensity in the matches.
“You still hear the stick from the sidelines and it’s probably more evident than usual with no atmosphere.
“It’s still early in the season though and you can imagine it could be a different ball game come the New Year. “There’s a title race, Celtic going for 10 in a row, Rangers trying to stop it, there could be fans coming back. “It is going to be an extremely pressurised environment. The referees are going to be under severe scrutiny. “In short, nothing has changed from 10 years ago – apart from the fact I doubt we’ll see referees coming in from Malta and so on this time.”