SOCCER:REFEREES FROM across the Continent will fly in to officiate at Scottish matches but the Scottish Football Association will not announce their names and nationalities to clubs until today.
After Scottish officials confirmed they would carry out their withdrawal of labour this weekend – in protest over abuse and the questioning of their integrity – the SFA put a contingency plan into operation. Eleven of a possible 20 games will go ahead, with the entire Premier League fixture list surviving.
Even taking into account the bizarre nature of the ongoing referees’ dispute, this move breaks new ground. The first country to break cover was Poland, which will send three sets of officials.
“They will come from all over the place,” said the SFA’s chief executive, Stewart Regan. “The key point is not about where they are from, it is about what type of referee they are. They are all either Fifa-listed or category one in their own country. I don’t see them as ‘scab’ referees. Nobody is breaking trade union rules.”
Referees from scores of countries had rejected the opportunity to help out the Scottish game. Portugal, Malta and Luxemburg are known to be among several countries who will join Poland in temporarily releasing a total of 44 referees. “No club has expressed a concern with this matter,” said the chief executive of the SPL, Neil Doncaster, about the issue of secrecy. “The key concern was ensuring the games went ahead and the agreement we’ve got in place with the SFA ensures that.”
The Challenge Cup final between Ross County and Queen of the South, three Scottish Cup replays and Falkirk’s visit to Morton will go ahead. The last of those fixtures remains only after the drawing of lots to choose where the final set of unknown officials could be deployed.Doncaster is furious at the actions of Scotland’s referees. “I’m disappointed referees felt the need to walk away from matches rather than talk about a solution,” he said. “That genuinely surprised me.”
Scottish football faces additional problems; snow is due to batter the country over the next 24 hours, which could endanger games once again.
Tomorrow
Celtic v Inverness CT 3pm
Hamilton v St Mirren 3pm
Hibernian v St Johnstone 3pm
Kilmarnock v Aberdeen 3pm
Sunday
Dundee Utd v Rangers noon
Motherwell v Hearts 2.15pm
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)