WHY FINAL REF MADDEN ISN’T A FAN OF SOCIAL MEDIA –
SAYS BOBBY MADDEN
THYROID cancer he could handle. Criticism of his refereeing abilities, meanwhile, bounces off Bobby Madden like a handful of confetti.
Even being ‘misquoted’ by Leigh Griffiths, who clearly inferred the whistler was clueless about a major Old Firm penalty call, only seems to provoke more surprise than anger.
But there is one area where even a brave man like Madden will not venture. The wilds of social media and its attendant internet badlands are a no-go zone for any official with a desire to remain sane. Type in Madden’s name and you will be diverted to all manner of conspiracy theories about his background and season-ticket history.
‘It’s frustrating because, unfortunately, one person says something and it becomes true,’ said the man taking charge of the Scottish Cup final for the first time tomorrow. ‘I don’t use it. Some of my friends will occasionally take a screenshot and forward it to me, if it’s a funny comment. Some of the comments there are frustrating — but what can you do? Someone says something and it’s accepted as the truth and someone retweets it and it serves as an endorsement.
‘It’s frightening. I keep away from it. Some of the comments are not even worth discussing, casting aspersions about your family and... it’s better not to talk about it because some of these things are so factually incorrect.
‘I tell my friends not to get involved, not to go in and try to correct it because they will only turn on you. Amazingly, they’ve said I have a son — I don’t have a son. That my dad was at a game. Well, my dad has actually passed away.
‘I’m a referee, I’m there to do a job but, unfortunately, social media supports this type of mentality, not just for referees but players, too.’
One of the more open officials, Madden takes obvious pride in the working relationship he has with football folk.
He would not mind being ‘mic’d up’ for games — or even following rugby’s example of wearing a camera, believing fans would benefit from seeing how well refs and players communicate.
But he smiled: ‘The problem you have in football is players. The rugby boys tend to say: “Yes sir, no problem, sir…” I tend not to get the same reaction!’
Tomorrow’s cup final is reward for a lot of hard work. And, possibly, for the cool head he kept as part of the officiating team at last season’s showpiece — pitch invasion and all.
The fact he was singled out for praise in a Sheriff’s report, given special notice for protecting players, is brushed aside as merely part of his duties.
As for his own well-being? That was something he had to confront in March last year. Taking up the tale of his illness and subsequent recovery, Madden said: ‘I went to Monklands Hospital to have a lump on my neck checked — and thought I’d only be there for ten minutes because I had other wee fatty tissue lumps.
‘It was the day of a game and I ended up there for four hours — and the doctor told me he was 80-per-cent sure I had thyroid cancer. The game that night didn’t go as well as I’d have liked. I made an error. It just shows you. I thought: “I’ll deal with this”. But obviously, it had an impact.
‘When it was confirmed in April, the prognosis was quite positive — after the surgery to remove the thyroid, I was to have radioactive iodine. So, there was no chemo or radiotherapy. It all went very well. I delayed it until after the Euros.
‘The doctor was unsure whether I would get back to refereeing because I would need to take drugs to replace the thyroid. But it became clear I would return. People are out longer with a calf strain. My first game back was Brechin v Livingston. Then ten days later I was refereeing (Cristiano) Ronaldo etc, Portugal v Latvia, in a World Cup qualifier.’
The thought that the stress of refereeing might have contributed to his illness crossed Madden’s mind.
‘When I was driving to a match, any time I got stopped in traffic, I was looking all the time. What are the signs of thyroid cancer? When signalling for a throw in, I was thinking: “Is that dry skin?” One of the potentially contributory factors is stress. But I’m quite a relaxed, laid-back character. Refereeing gave me focus.’
Insisting refs are seriously self-critical, especially given they can view footage of their displays in the Premiership and the Championship, Madden reads the papers and listens to comments from managers.
Recalling Derek McInnes’ fierce criticism after he disallowed an Aberdeen goal last season, he revealed: ‘He was right to have a go because it was a mistake. But immediately after he was in to apologise as he knew there was a line and he had overstepped it.’
His willingness to talk maybe leaves Madden open to misinterpretation. That would be a kind way of looking at Griffiths’ post-match comments following Celtic’s 1-1 draw with Rangers.
Madden insists he was right not to award the striker a penalty after he was challenged by Clint Hill, basing his judgment on what he saw — namely, the defender making contact with the ball.
As for Griffiths’ claim the ref had asked him if the ball had been played, Madden looked genuinely bemused. ‘That’s incredible. You can see me on TV saying twice he played the ball. I was adamant he played the ball. Leigh maybe misquoted me.’
Not that it really bothers Madden, whose four years refereeing the Juniors prepared him for most eventualities.
‘I remember the captain of Pollok who my brother is pally with, Stevie Miller, “Becksy”. What a game. It was 4-3, 11 cautions, both managers removed, just incredible.
‘Becksy is just behind me and all I hear is: “Bang!”. I look around and the guy’s lying there, with Becksy standing beside him.
‘I show him the red card. He says: “You never saw me.” I said: “You kicked him…” and he goes: “No I never, Bobby, I punched him!” Well, I just said: “All right, then, punched. Away you go!”’