Willie Collum, has explained what he found difficult about refereeing Glasgow Derby games between Celtic and Rangers.
Now retired from match officiating and taking on the role of the SFA Head of Referees, Collum has been in the headlines over the last 24 hours after announcing a new monthly SFA podcast called The VAR Review.
The program will allow Collum to publicly discuss VAR decisions made, rightly or wrongly, by his officials and offer clarity on how the match-appointed officials come to their decisions.
No longer a whistler, Collum was asked what it’s like to referee a game between Celtic and Rangers and the former Grade 1 referee admitted there was one thing he struggled with.
Collum: Celtic vs Rangers is a ‘great occasion’
The Glasgow Derby is a unique occasion with loads of pressure and passion. Many professional footballers crumble in the white-hot atmosphere so what is it like for a referee?
Collum explains.
Collum told Superscoreboard, “I suppose as you get experienced I used to say once you’ve refereed one, if you want to referee another, you’re crazy. But they’re great occasions.
“The atmosphere is unbelievable. I suppose the build-up was always difficult for me. I think there was a nervousness about the build-up to the match, but the actual match often took care of itself.
“You were involved there, and when you went into that mode, you just got on with the game.”
Collum’s Celtic vs Rangers record
Collum has refereed no less than ten Glasgow Derbies during his time as a referee and it seems he was kind of a lucky charm of the Parkhead club.
Of those ten fixtures, Celtic won nine and lost just one. The most iconic victory Collum referees was the 2016 Demolition Derby where Moussa Dembele scored his famous hattrick in his first-ever derby.
Whilst these games are tremendously difficult for players to take part in, it is interesting to see it from a referee’s point of view and how they cope with the big occasion.
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