They are dirty jobs – but you can’t do both!

If Douglas Ross didn’t know it already, he certainly does now.

Politics is a far dirtier game than football. Opposition MPs ganged up on Ross for running the line in Barcelona’s Champions League tie against Greek side Olympiakos in the Nou Camp 11 days ago.

SNP members of parliament, in particular, were furious that Ross was in Spain instead of Westminister, thereby missing what they believed was a crucial debate on Universal Credit. They demanded he gave up football immediately. Now the Tory MP, who ousted SNP parliamentary leader Angus Robertson at the last General Election, has announced he will no longer accept refereeing appointments when Parliament is sitting.

That may have ruined any chance Scotland had of being represented in Russia for the World Cup Finals.

You won’t need reminding that the national team failed to qualify, something that cost manager Gordon Strachan his job.

Ross is part of a team headed by FIFA Elite-rated Willie Collum, with “team” being the operative word.

FIFA places great emphasis on match officials being part of a team. So now that Ross has pulled out, Collum’s team faces a battle to be at what FIFA believes is the greatest show on earth.

Over the years, the vast majority of referees and their assistants have had to juggle football commitments with their day jobs to be able to officiate abroad.

I worked beside Bob Valentine when he was Scotland’s top whistler. He had no problem obtaining time off.

The chairman of DC Thomson took the view Bob, a print compositor with the firm, was representing the company.

So between juggling holidays and having a few days off here and there, he was able to officiate all over the world, including the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain, where he was in charge of the infamous clash between West Germany and Austria, where both teams were accused of colluding to play for a goal-less draw.

Bob also handled games at the Euro Finals in 1984 and 1988.

John Gordon was a top official around the same time, and he was in a similar situation to Valentine.

He required time off from the famous marmalade manufacturer, Keillor, where he worked as an accountant.

At least Hugh Dallas was his own boss at a doubleglazing company when he went all the way to being fourth official at the 2002 World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany in Japan.

Unless match officials are full-time, as they are in England, this will always be a problem in Scotland – especially with politicians looking to score points over each other at every opportunity.