An infamous weekend in Scotland

27th – 28th November 2010, a weekend that will go down in Scottish football history – and for all the wrong reasons.

  It was the first time in our games history that a full SPL card of fixtures, a national final (Alba Cup) and some lower league clashes were to be handled by sets of European officials – two Israeli’s, a Maltese and a Luxembourger to name a few. These nations aren’t exactly at the top end of the footballing scale.

  This came on the back of a strike by Scotland’s top officials amidst claims questioning  their impartiality, allegations of being institutionally bias towards and against “a certain unnamed club”, the increasing trend of being unfairly abused by players and coaches alike and even calls for them to divulge the teams they support.

The fact of the matter is that we could all see this coming, especially after more than a handful of controversial and, quite frankly, abysmal refereeing displays so far this season being highlighted, analysed and discussed on a daily basis and deflecting away from what really counts - the game itself. The final nail in the coffin for the Scottish Referee was arguably when it was revealed in the national media that over 80% of Category One referees’ had taken and failed a recent examination on the laws of the game.

Saturday’s SPL fixtures went ahead and the foreign officials certainly showed their  Scottish peers how it should be done, with the four fixtures that survived the drama being officiated with no hiccups – unbelievably at some of the Stadiums the men in the middle were even applauded on and off the park.

Barring a slightly questionable penalty decision at Rugby Park, which on review was proven to be the correct decision,  the general consensus is that the referee’s performed remarkably well under extreme pressure and perhaps gave the SFA and the rest of our games administrators a headache with regards to the true quality of our top referee’s.

Coupled with the recent resignation of Referee’s chief Hugh Dallas, the saga regarding the ref’s protests could continue for days, weeks and maybe even months to come. The turmoil of Scottish football lives on.