STEPHEN McGOWAN
WHO would choose to be a Scottish referee? In comparison, traffic wardens and tax i nspectors are treasured in the public’s affections. Politicians are paragons of trust.
Eyebrows were raised in midweek when Willie Collum, an unappreciated figure on these shores, was handed the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Monaco and Juventus.
Hugh Dallas, UEFA’s refereeing officer, probably thought he was doing his native land a favour. If so, he was the only one.
In January, Collum was ‘overlooked’ for two rounds of SPFL fixtures after red cards administered to Stephen McManus of Motherwell and St Mirren’s Kenny McLean were overturned on appeal.
Collum’s season has been a catalogue of cock-ups.
So when Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim expressed irritation with the school teacher’s performance on Wednesday night, which included handing Monaco’s Bernardo Silva a red card, there were knowing looks all round.
Collum also denied the French club a penalty then headed for home with the condemnation ringing in his ears. Plus ca change was the cry.
Referees are an easy target. Attacking them is a blood sport which overlooks the fact they are human beings. Intelligent men with families.
They all suffer through the criticism and don’t choose to make mistakes on purpose. Neither should they have to live with halfwits analysing their handshake techniques for Masonic tendencies.
And yet, sympathy is offset by the knowledge that, for the hassle and abuse, they earn £850 a pop. This season, the introduction of performance-related pay would have saved Scottish football a fortune.
Last Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden confirmed that the standard of refereeing has become an embarrassment.
Barely a weekend passes now without SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan stepping in to cover the tracks of an erring man in black, although yesterday’s SFA statement on the Josh Meekings tribunal did little to help his own credibility.
The angry, protracted furore over the Inverness Caley player was a preventable fiasco.
Meekings is a lucky boy. Under the current SFA laws — voted for by clubs, remember — he should be watching the Scottish Cup Final against Falkirk from the South Stand at Hampden, a sprig of heather on his suit. Instead, he will play in the biggest game of his career after a reprieve based on sympathy and the feeling the referee and his officials — and not him — should have been in the dock.
Deliberately or otherwise, Meekings handled a netbound header from Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths in last Sunday’s semi-final.
Had the officials spotted the ball striking his hand — the somewhat spurious argument being that they saw the incident without seeing the offence — Caley would have been down to 10 men following the denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Meekings would have been out of the Cup Final with no appeal. Celtic would have had a penalty for 2-0. Most — including Inverness manager John Hughes — agree they might have gone on to win the match. A Treble for Celtic might not have been secured exactly, but it would have certainly have been in the post.
None of this happened because six officials suffered the biggest bout of myopia on a British television screen since Mr Magoo was driving a jalopy.
Celtic fans screamed conspiracy. They usually do.
A mere week after season-ticket renewals went out, however, the Parkhead club indulged this nonsense by writing to the SFA seeking ‘clarification’ on the refereeing lapse.
Their anger was understandable, their method of channelling it regrettable. It fuelled the ire of rival fans and provoked suspicions that Celtic — currently Scotland’s most powerful club — were somehow trying to railroad the SFA.
A goal ahead when Meekings handled, the incident had not, in itself, ‘cost’ them the game. Their inability to hold on to a 1-0 lead had.
It was a huge turning point. But Ronny Deila’s side also had some good fortune of their own when replacement goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska punched Inverness striker Edward Ofere on the back of the head in extra-time.
Inverness had already had one penalty. Not many teams get two. But, yet again, the officials got it wrong.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton was s c at hi ng. He branded additional assistant Alan Muir an ‘idiot’ and demanded both he and referee Steven McLean be held to account. Yet the truth is that few believe they will be.
Meekings spent the week facing the prospect of missing the biggest game of his career. In contrast, people think referees ruin games and escape scot-free.
McLean and Co might well be removed from the refereeing rota for a few weeks. But the SFA will never confirm it and they should.
The crime sheet against Scottish referees is growing. Until the SFA admit i t, acknowledge i t and address it publicly, absolutely nothing will change.