EVEN REFEREES MISS OUR GAME
Odd critic or two will not stop Clancy itching for SPFL return
APRE-ARRANGED holiday to south-east Asia spared Kevin Clancy the worst of the fallout from the last Old Firm game but there was no escaping his own gnawing sense of frustration that he had called a big refereeing decision wrong.
As shown by television replays, Celtic’s equalising goal on December 29 had found the net via a deflection off the hand of striker Odsonne Edouard.
There was no material impact on the result. Rangers deservedly won the game 2-1 and much of the post-match indignation focused on their centre-forward Alfredo Morelos, correctly sent off by Clancy for a stoppage-time
dive and then pictured making an inflammatory gesture as he left the park.
‘I’d booked my holiday before the match appointment was made, simply to coincide with the winter break,’ says Clancy. ‘So it was coincidence or good luck that I didn’t feel the full force of the post-mortem. Because there was no immediate round of fixtures to follow, the narrative was allowed to continue.’
Clancy freely admits that he called the Edouard incident wrong. He’s equally certain that the presence of VAR technology would have allowed him to quickly reverse his decision and avoid any recrimination.
Subsequent to the sending-off of Morelos, Clancy also showed a red card to Rangers first-team coach Michael Beale, who later admitted in these pages that his extended touchline ban had been applied for calling Clancy a cheat.
In an environment where the normally sensible and decent can submit to hysteria and entrenched prejudice, one question looms large. Why would anyone bother?
Like most of Scotland’s part-time match officials, 36-year-old Clancy has a successful career, one that sees him operate as a lawyer specialising in liquor licensing and health and safety.
The coronavirus lockdown has seen no let-up in the work relating to either field and yet he continues to pine for matchdays.
Robbed of the camaraderie provided by the weekly sessions put on by SFA, he maintains a daily training routine that sees him pound the turf in a local park.
‘You miss the atmosphere, the tension that goes with refereeing in the SPFL,’ explains Clancy, who was due to officiate at the Motherwell v Aberdeen Friday-night fixture on the very day the season was suspended. ‘You also miss the interaction with your team-mates.
‘I guess we are not so different from players in that respect. The officials have our own dressing-room banter and pre-match preparation. I guess we are all missing the matchday experience and just maybe the odd bit of criticism from the terracing.’
Wisely, Clancy takes nothing to do with social media but there are plenty of alternative vectors eager to transmit a highlights package of the various reviews on the internet.
‘It’s very difficult to totally insulate yourself from the fallout,’ he concedes. ‘I don’t go out of my way to read it but my friends and my dad will always be kind enough to pass on any comment that is circulating — positive or negative.
‘Fortunately, my wife Samantha is used to those occasional errors and is very supportive to make sure I don’t let it get to me too much.
‘My work colleagues are also very good. They’ll stop at my desk to chew over the fat of the weekend’s events and my own decisions.
‘That kind of light-hearted banter can help. It’s important to have perspective.’
Perspective is not the first word that springs to mind when it comes to dealing with a Scottish football environment that specialises in squabbling and mistrust.
Clancy has officiated in two Old Firm matches now and admits the fixture demands a different style of refereeing.
He continues: ‘It certainly does feel different to almost any other game in Scotland. The build-up is noticeably different and you can feel the atmosphere and tension when the game gets underway.
‘The players want to do well and the supporters are obviously fired up for the occasion.
‘By the end of it, you have had so much to do and adjudicate that these days take more out of you.
‘I don’t want to be too exclusive because the same could be said for an Edinburgh derby. Living in the city, I know just how much that derby means to people on the east coast.
‘In any of these bigger games — and this also applies to semi-finals and finals — you have to approach the game in a subtly different fashion or adopt slightly different tactics.
‘There might be a bit more latitude or the manner in which you engage with players. A light-hearted comment that might take the sting out of a situation in a more routine game might not be appropriate in one of these pressurised, high-profile matches.
‘I suppose you are trying to pitch things and pick your moments in a way that allows you to manage the game without compromising your control.
‘Every referee steps on the grass wanting to do the best job he can. You want to get everything correct.
‘Split-second decisions can come down to position. It might be judgment.
‘You don’t want to come off the football pitch to find out that an important decision you thought correct in a split second turns out not to have been, through the lens of several television cameras and slow-motion replays.
‘As you come to terms with the fact you haven’t got a big decision correct, it can impact on your personal life during the week.’
All of which means the advent of VAR cannot come soon enough for Scotland’s match officials.
At present, only two, Bobby Madden and Willie Collum, are fully
My friends and my dad are quick to pass on all the negative comments!
trained in the video technology but moves were afoot to bring the rest up to speed before coronavirus brought the suspension of the football season.
Hampden was due to have the technology installed for Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-off against Israel last month and the apparatus would have remained for use in the background to give officials some real-time training in the system during the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
‘Once any teething problems are ironed out and people get comfortable with the protocol for the use of VAR, then I think it will be a fantastic addition to the Scottish game,’ says Clancy.
‘It would give us the best chance possible of making the correct decisions in-match. And I think it
would be great for the profile of Scottish football. It could only be an advantage.
‘You would have an extra pair of eyes. It’s worth remembering that the idea is still to let the referee and his assistants officiate the game but it would provide a mechanism to catch that handful of decisions a season that to many people are obviously wrong.
‘Rather than have the debate and dialogue in the papers for days afterwards, the decision can be duly corrected during the match.
‘If you get the protocol correct and set the bar so that it is not unduly interfering and slowing the game down, I can’t see any disadvantages either for the refs — or the players.’
Clancy saw VAR up close as part of Madden’s matchday team for Champions League matches involving Bayern Munich and Barcelona earlier this season.
With no requirement for VAR experience needed for the group stage of the Europa League, he was also given his own assignment in November when he refereed Rosenberg’s home game against Sporting Lisbon.
‘It’s fantastic to be involved in these occasions,’ he adds. ‘I don’t think anyone should underestimate how much of a privilege it is for us to referee these European and international matches.
‘You are walking on to the pitch with players who are household names and others who may later become so.
‘Bruno Fernandes was playing for Sporting that night and so it was interesting to see him later pop up at Manchester United.’
For now, the jet-setting has been suspended but lockdown does have its uses.
It’s rare to hear at such length from a serving match official and so itis worth crediting Clancy for breaking from protocol to offer an insight into a referee’s lot.
‘I think it would be a benefit for supporters to see the human side of the referees more, that we have our own personalities,’ he admits.
‘The players might see that side of us because we engage with them on the pitch and try to have a laugh and a joke at an appropriate moment. The spectators don’t get to see that.
‘I know Bobby did a socialdistancing video for the SFA with the vanishing spray in his back garden.
‘It was a serious message but he did it in his own way with a sprinkling of good humour.
‘We are humans, we might make mistakes but we are just like the players, trying to do our best on any given Saturday.’
When you realise you got a big decision wrong, it can impact on your personal life during the week