I've had many conversations and indulged in a lot of correspondence on this matter over the last week or so. I am, frankly, astounded that this affair has resulted in a strike by the elite referees, let alone all of the additional furore it has attracted.
In the first place, the Referees say they chose to strike because they are tired of abuse and attacks on their integrity and honesty. Excuse me if I am pointing out the obvious, but it was evidence presented by the referees themselves that highlighted a lack of those virtues. Indeed, they were only found out because one of their own kind was backed into a corner by the internal machinations of the Black Lodge* (see footnote) when trying to cover their own arses over the "DougieDougie" lie.
The subsequent revelations about Hugh Dallas allegedly bullying match officials and refusing to accept match reports unless the referees changed them to reflect what he wanted them to portray, and the sending of offensive and/or sectarian emails from his SFA email account doesn't reflect too well on the SFA either. I mean, how could they allow this sort of thing to go on unchecked for so long ?
The strike, in my opinion, is less to do with respect and more to do with a siege mentality. TBL trying to protect their little empire in the centre of the establishment. The incredible concept of Hugh Dallas attempting to blackmail the new SFA Chief (Stewart Regan) by offering to call off the strike if he dropped the internal disciplinary proceedings against him regarding the sectarian email. If it wasn't Scotland, I wouldn't believe it!
Regan, despite his lack of experience in the matter of Central Scottish Sectarian matters, has earned a tip of my hat for his steadfast and sure "we don't negotiate with terrorists"stance. His insistance that employees of the SFA abide by their regulations and published policies must have shaken poor old Shug to the core!
I suspected that something huge was about to break in the media when he made comments suggesting that there were manouvres of a sectarian nature being made in amongst the shenanigans. Something about his tone and demeanour gave the game away and the tides turned on Dallas.
When you take into account the facts of the liargate affair - Dougie McDonald (the referee found to have lied to Celtic manager Neil Lennon) was let off with a censure by a disciplinary panel made up of former or current senior referees - one of them being McDonalds' own business partner. The obvious injustices of this system scream out for scrapping the entire system, lock stock and staff, and starting again - it is the football equivalent of the Burmese military junta counting the votes in the election where they were fielding the most candidates.
"Something not quite right here" would be a reasonable judgement of the whole affair and reasonable cause for a football club to question the appropriateness of the "punishement".
To compound their ineptitude, the referees then refused to negotiate an alternative solution to the strike. Perhaps they believed that the loss of television money for clubs, the additional cost of importing foreign match officials, and the embarrassment of the new SFA Chief having to give in to them would deflect Regan from pushing ahead with his program of changes. Childish, wilful, "it's ma baw an'ah'm takin' it hame if ye dinnae dae whit ah want" blackmail.
The funny thing is that they know they're dishonest, and they don't care. We know they are dishonest, and we are fed up with it. The referees even demanded tougher sanctions against clubs and for individuals that questioned their integrity to be heavily punished. Unbelievable! You might know that we lied, we know that you know we lied, but if anyone mentions it and asks how that can be a basis for trust, we're going to give them a kicking - and you're first!
Of course, the latest news is probably not as much of a shock as an event of earth shattering proportions - The Head of Referee Development, some say the grand master of TBL - Big Shug - fired, or resigned, depending on which paper you read, and several other SFA employees fired for their involvement in the sectarian hatemail shenanigans.
It is a good day for the SFA, despite the loyal laptop headlines. It is a bad day for Scottish Referees - shown up to be dishonest, sectarian, criminal (in that they attempted to control someone else's actions and seek gain by harrassment, coersion and threatening behaviour. But moreso than for any other group or individual, a very black day for The Black Lodge - their grip on the power strings at the SFA is beginning to slacken. The cracks are showing.
They will forever more be under the scrutiny of fans and unbiased press and will never be completely trusted with the honesty and integrity of referees again. One thing is clear though - this is not the end of it. One of the long-time allies, possibly one of the senior members of TBL - will be assessing any appeals against sackings which resulted from this whole sorry affair. This has only been the first skirmish - trust me - ther's a lot more to come!
I note that senior referees Craig Thompson and Mike McKendrick have been extremely quick to leap to the support of Hugh Dallas and implied that it will signal a drop in refereeing standards. Given that the subject of sub-standard refereeing has never been raised so frequently as during Hugh Dallas' tenure as SFA Head of Referee Development, that must be seen as either sour grapes and childishness, or - is it a veiled threat ? It certainly signals that it will not be the end of the dispute with referees. I say we fear no fight - bring it on. The sooner all the scumbags are out of running Scottish football, the better.
Footnote: * The Black Lodge is a term I invented to represent the Masonic (i.e. Orange Order) influenced, anti-Celtic / anti-catholic element that is encumbent within the entire Scottish establishment (not just football).
No comments:
Post a Comment