Sometimes a crossed wire in a conversation can be particularly illuminating.
I was on the phone with a colleague in England.
He is a very savvy political journalist, and you would probably recognise his name, and he is often on TV.
We have been in contact since I broke what became known as the “Dallas Email” story.
He got in touch after he read this piece that I had written in the Guardian and got my details from a mutual friend in the NUJ.
“Proper journalism fella” was how he opened the communication.
Unlike the safely succulent types in the Stenography Corps, he had no problem in acknowledging the journalist who had broken the story that led to Mr Dallas leaving his employment at Hampden.
I was speaking to my buddy again yesterday, and his reason for getting in touch was my recent stuff on the match officials for the league cup final.
While on the phone, I explained why referee Nick Walsh shouldn’t be anywhere near a fixture involving either team.
My buddy was gobsmacked at my “scoop” and was clearly happy for me.
His excitement blindsided me.
“When are you going to publish? That’s amazing!”
I wasn’t following this at all.
The crossed wire was that my Arsenal-loving pal thought I had been excavating on a story and had discovered the hidden fact that Mr Walsh was a PE teacher at Boclair academy for Sevco starlets.
I had to quietly break the news to my buddy that this was common knowledge on Planet Fitba!
Dear reader, it was his reaction to this crossed wire that was most revealing to me.
Quite simply, the London-based reporter just could not conceive of such a situation being tolerated in England.
It was our old friend from sociology, the “commonsense inventory”.
When the call ended, he sent me this BBC piece on match officials in England.
I put some of it out on a Twitter thread, but it is worth replicating here:
Do referees have to say who they support?
Yes. And referees will not get appointed to the clubs they support.
“At the beginning of every season the referees’ background information is audited,” said Keith Hackett, the former head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation that makes refereeing appointments for Premier League games.
“They complete a form that includes who they support, the history of if they’ve played the game and with the addresses where they are residing.
“That gives you a picture that comes into use when you’re appointing. It’s about ensuring, for example, you wouldn’t appoint a Sheffield-based ref for a Sheffield team.”
For the citizens of Planet Fitba, the very idea that the organisation that once employed Jim Farry and Hugh Dallas would carry out an audit on “background information” on their match officials is laughable.
Why?
Well, because that could negatively impact the Favoured Franchise.
My working assumption is at Hampden, everyone knows that unwritten rule.
Not true?
Then remove the doubt.
You do that by being transparent in a way that my pal in London would recognise.
That is why last night, after speaking to my buddy, I submitted this email to the SFA communications people:
16 Feb 2023, 17:30
Hello
Well, someone has to do this journalism stuff in Scottish football.
Of course, it shouldn’t be down to an NUJ member in Ireland.
Should it?
For the avoidance of doubt, I did point that out to my mate in London.
He didn’t have an answer to that one.
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There is big gap in quality between the SPL and the Champions League, hopefully the handicap of playing against biased officials in Scotland raises Celtic’s game, so we can better compete at the higher level!
I posted this then read about Barcelona paying 20 million Euros to referees, I imagine we’ll be be cheated in Europe as well
As I understand it this season’s SPFL winner automatically goes into the Group Stage of next seasons Champions League.
With a 9 point lead, plus a significant goal difference, a Celtic victory in the next visit of Rangers to Parkhead will eliminate any possibility of Celtic not filling Scotland’s slot and with it banking the significant financial boost guaranteed.
Qualification for the CL 2nd place team in the SPFL is not guaranteed through what will be a perilous journey to get there.
Celtic’s player trading model has seen fans favourites move on bringing in good money, money that Ange has spent wisely with a hugel success rate into the bargain.
Jota, Abada, Kyogo, Hatate, Maeda and the others have hit the ground running and the results have been great.
Success in a tough cup tie, on paper, coming up at Tynecastle,plus the upcoming cup final, will set Ange and the boys up for another treble.
Bring it on.
I see that a senior match official in the English Premier League has been sacked because of a VAR issue that caused Arsenal to drop a couple of points during the week.
When was the last time a top flight official in Scotland was relieved of duties or relegated to a lower level of football?
I don’t know if you can call it a punishment but Willie Collum didn’t get another Sevco match for 6 months after they complained about his performance during a game involving them.
Only the introduction of foreign officials will ever give us a level playing field.
If the ref doesn’t support Celtic then he hates us and the few who do support Celtic are too scared to give us anything, so they overcompensate and come across as biased against us.
I know the latter to be true.
Any time Sevco demanded it…
The cheating since the introduction of VAR appears more blatant than ever. Sevco v Partick two goes at it (game is a draw and a struggle for sevco) Tillman fouled three yards outside box dives into box referee gives a penalty and VAR backs it up. Everything is being done in an attempt to stop a Celtic treble
Surely somebody down South should run with this fact? It has been successful in the past
It’s not just the ‘honest’ mistakes that our officials serve up on a regular basis.
The fact is that the standard is way below what we see in other countries.
When was the last time you left a game thinking ‘ the ref had a stormer today?’
I love the situation where there is a 50/50 call required on the field.
The ref looks at his linesman, the linesman looks at the ref, then the decision is made by the first to whistle or raise a flag.
Oh come on guys!! The first question would be what have Celtic fc done about this? Answer! We are working behind the scenes. End of story.
Davidson/Wharton/Tait/ Dallas/Dougal/ Beaton/Walsh …to name a few.
Common denominator…??
Go on …have a guess.
Our Club’s attitude towards it ?
” There’s nothing to see here …Go away and stop bothering us.”
Will it ever change ?
I seriously doubt it.
Bobby Davidson was called out on a few occasions by Big Jock.
His hatred of Celtic was Legendary, I attended the Cup final against Aberdeen, the Saturday before the Leeds game. It was the worst piece of refereeing I have ever witnessed. Cannot say I have seen worse since. Seen some strange decisions, I can tell you.
That game also cost Celtic a treble.
A great incentive for Mr. Davidson.
The Defence rests its case M’Lud…Nice one CB…
It also cost Jock £20 (I think), which the SFA fined him after he harangued Davidson all round the pitch after the match.
However, the SFA and Davidson were no match for the indomitable Jock, as he quipped “That’s the best £20 I’ve ever spent!”
Oh for Big Jock or Wee Fergus back with us…This would not have been allowed to continue.
Seriously people need to stop calling it paranoia when its an actual fact.. SMSM are not journalists, they are professional gaslighters
The Scottish referees should do us paying punters a favour – and go on strike,
[and preferably for a good few weeks.]
Just like the last time, we could bring in foreign officials for on the field officiating and VAR support.
This could also provide some ‘control sample’ statistics,
to be able to compare ‘neutral’ match officials decision-making against ‘homegrown’ match officials?
Like:
– number of penalties awarded, [or not] red cards, [or not],
– highly disputed and/or overturned decisions,
– referee checking with VAR – or not – before making decisions,
– etc…
In 1995, Les Mottram refereed the Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Airdrie. Little mention of the fact that Mottram had actually played for Airdrie, however briefly.
Once again first class reporting but remember we re paranoid wonder why ???
Couldn’t an English based journalist get it into the English press , plenty of evidence to show it’s a rigged game and their audience love a bit of “Jock bashing”
Since Scottish football is viewed as “farmer’s league level” down there, there would be little to no interest in running such a story in the tabloids. A story of this magnitude would need to be targeted at a specific demographic, that is to say, genuine footy fans with a huge interest in the game on a global level (think Arsenal fan, for example, reading about “off the radar”-type players from, say, the Thai leagues). “Arsenal fan” then gets his/her eyes well and truly opened when they read an article (written by Phil, perhaps?) in the likes of SHOOT, 4-4-2, etc about the shenanigans up here. Some may then become so intrigued that they then research related websites and articles such as those of PMG, Rangers Tax Case, Paul McConville, etc. They is how the genie should escape the bottle! The SFA and SPFL would no doubt have a bit of explaining to do to the likes of UEFA, and FIFA.
The SFA know that English refs are not allowed to ref the club they support but they need to ignore the logic of this. 90% of senior refs support Rangers. 90% are so biased but do not care. UEFA need to be informed.
Try giving your buddy the Five Way Agreement or the Resolution 12 information and see if he can run with it.
After all a scandal is a scandal.
My suspicion is he will also be told to drop it.
With your success regard Death FC in 2012, an investigation into SFA relationships and operations must be next?
There is only one team, week in and week out, benefiting from shocking decisions, and that’s Sevco. It wouldn’t happen in any other league in the world. The dogs in the street know who these referees support. Shameful.