Refs are honest but they need some help

I’ve had many different roles in football – player, coach, agent and administrator.

But the job I’ve never gone for is being a referee.

There has been intense debate about the standard of officials in Scotland after three out of four red cards last weekend were rescinded on appeal.

Let’s get one thing straight. There is no bias being shown by referees.

To suggest that happens is absolutely absurd.

These guys take a huge professional and personal pride in their performances.

They also have every reason to want to excel on the pitch.

Present-day referees make very decent money and they know the chance to officiate in the Champions League and major international tournaments can come their way.

Having met a number of them, I know just how much it hurts them when mistakes are highlighted.

There’s no way they would deliberately embarrass themselves by giving a decision in favour of a team they support.

Mistakes have been made and we can see that when red cards are being overturned.

The problem referees have nowadays – and it happens all over the world – is the increased scrutiny they come under.

Referees take charge of top-flight games that are being covered by several cameras.

They only get one look at an incident and have to make a split-second decision.

Those of us watching at home get to watch a replay and, in most cases, can see if an error has been made.

John Beaton sends off Rangers’ Ryan Jack but the red card was rescinded.

When I was on UEFA and FIFA committees, I proposed that video replays should be looked at right away to help the referees.

At the time, people didn’t want that and said it wasn’t the way to go.

It’s now happening in some games and I believe it is the way forward.

There’s no doubt that John Beaton could have been helped during the Rangers v Hibs game last weekend if an official on the sideline had been looking at the footage.

All we need for this to happen is the willingness to put the technology in place.

There will be a financial cost, but that can surely be done in conjunction with the television companies.

Some people may have an issue with the time taken to look at incidents, but they will have to live with that if they want potentially game-changing decisions to be right at all times.

I feel the three types of incidents that should be looked at are goals scored, penalty-kick awards and sendings-off.

My proposal was that decisions be looked at if there was an appeal from one of the technical areas.

Both teams would be limited to two appeals in order to avoid frivolous claims.

I think the standard of refereeing is as good as it was when I was playing.

But the game is faster, every incident is caught on camera and there are more players cheating.

When I was on the pitch you pretended you weren’t hurt. Now it’s the opposite.

Players go down without any contact and they’re very good at it.

We were the first to bring in retrospective action at the SFA and that has helped to some extent, but it still happens.

I had my disputes with referees when I was a player.

But I never thought for a minute that it was anything more than him seeing the incident differently from me.

When I was at the SFA, I used to have a laugh with top officials such as Hugh Dallas and John Fleming.

I’d tell them there must be something wrong with the personality of people who volunteer to be referees.

It’s a thankless task at times, but we can’t do without them.

■