Celtic’s major initiative to bring in foreign referees to Scotland was last night justified.
According to the Daily Record, more and more clubs are starting to back Celtic’s stance to add foreign referees to our game. That’s despite the fact the SFA reportedly feel that it’s a non-starter.
That’s no real surprise considering the SFA like to behave controversially as opposed to doing what’s best for the game.
But last night’s events at Ibrox arguably and ironically couldn’t have come at a greater time.
Just as Celtic are looking to push through a new brand of outside referees, Kilmarnock were getting robbed by a Scottish one in Alan Muir.
The SFA referee managed to make two shocking decisions that went Rangers’ way. Firstly, Eamonn Brophy was hauled to the ground under Joe Worrall in the box, but no penalty was given. Then, a scandalous red card was handed out to Kilmarnock goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann for a nothing incident. You can see those decisions below.
https://twitter.com/gibbogibby1/status/1098352423473680389
This comes nearly three weeks after Andrew Dallas gave Rangers FOUR penalties in one match. Only one was generally accepted as being the correct decision.
Scottish referees are negatively influencing matches
Therefore, officials are most certainly influencing matches in a strong way up here. Muir effectively got Kilmarnock wrongly sent out of the Scottish Cup. Dallas cost St Mirren a vital three points in their race to stay up.
It’s no surprise that Celtic’s initiative is getting a stronger following from clubs. This perhaps wouldn’t have been the case several years ago.
But whether referees in this country are biased or simply not very good, drastic action is necessary.
Every week, there seems to be another hot refereeing decision up for discussion. Whatever the reason for it, change is now more of a necessity.
At the very least, the SFA need to take away the idea of bias within referees. Supporters are getting more and more concerned about whether Scottish referees have an agenda. When so much evidence is being thrown in their face, it’s difficult to reject that idea.
Bringing in some fresh eyes to Scotland will at least give us a new perspective on referees. Supporters can watch a Lithuanian ref, for example, and be safe in the knowledge he doesn’t care about either team – he’s simply there to call it down the middle.
As it stands – it’s difficult to view Scottish referees in that same light.
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