REF CHIEF: LET BIG DECISIONS BE EXPLAINED
THE standard of match officials in Scottish football shouldn’t be rubbished because of decisions made in individual games says referees’ chief David Elleray.
But the technical director of rule-making body the International Football Association Board insists it could be time for contentious decisions to be explained post-match – though not necessarily by the referee in charge.
Speaking after IFAB’s annual meeting in Aberdeen, the ex-English Premier League official also highlighted the need for rules to be changed to speed up games, bring greater fairness and clamp down on bad behaviour on the pitch.
And he revealed bosses and coaches in the dugout will get yellow or red cards if they step out of line.
On Scottish refs, Elleray said: “Issues relating to refereeing can often be distorted by decisions relating to individual decisions in matches.
“Go to any country in the world and at some stage in the season people will say the refereeing isn’t as good as it was.
“We take a much longerterm view and Scotland’s always had a number of referees classed as elite by UEFA. They are going to major tournaments.
“Beyond that I can’t comment except that as chairman of the referees’ committee I hear two or three times a year the refereeing is terrible.”
But Elleray is not opposed to looking at a way for decisions to be cleared up after games.
He said: “Whether the referee is the right person to do that is another issue. Some players and coaches are good at talking to the media, some are hopeless. It’s the same with referees.”
He told of a referee down south mistakenly leaving out the word “immediate” when explaining to the media he’d changed his penalty decision because “of the reaction of players.”
Elleray, who also revealed players from the attacking team will no longer be allowed within a metre of a defensive wall, stopped short of stepping on the toes of Scotland’s referee chief John Fleming over the issue of which teams officials support.
In a BBC interview ex-ref Steve Conroy claimed while he was a Celtic fan many of his colleagues supported Rangers. However, Conroy did not accuse any referee of showing favour.
Elleray insisted honesty was a priority and added: “Referees must be fair and must be seen to be fair but I wouldn’t interfere in Scottish refereeing because Mr Fleming would kill me.”