Kingsmills

Thirty seven sleeps, and counting, to the biggest game in our history....

Ironic thread title! There are plenty Inverness fans who have never had any affiliation for either of that pair. Your casual reference of supporting Celtic but have changed to ICT suggests too much time interchanging clubs on a PC game - rather than having to literally live out the reality of supporting a wee club like us versus the sickening institution that is Celtic. The religion, bigotry, self-righteousness, and many more unmentionables, make that club one of whom nobody can be proudly associated. There is simply a HUGE cultural divide! It is inconceivable to me that one day, you support Celtic, but the next, Caley Thistle! Ouch.....I have to disagree, in my opinion, those fans who once supported other clubs even Celtic and Rangers are just as valued and welcome as fans of ICT as those of us who once stood on the terraces of Kingsmills and Telford Street.

I was 37 at the time and so did I.......

Correct. The fee applies when appealing against a red card in the normal course of play. There is no fee for contesting a ban offered by the Compliance Officer.

There is only one part of your post that I take issue with. Whilst we would, without doubt, have felt aggrieved and disappointed, I am as certain as I can be that ICT would not have written to the SFA to ask for an explanation. We would have simply accepted that we were on the wrong end of a bad refereeing decision at a crucial time as every single club is from time to time. In fact, I can only think of two clubs in the land who would have the arrogance to write to the governing body demanding an explanation. One is your own and one is barely four years old. You are each as bad as each other and football in this country would be much the healthier and far fairer without either of you.

My final word on the absurdity of it all before the hearing. Professional football has been played now for 153 years. It has been routinely televised for half a century. FIFA have 209 national associations as members. Something in excess of ten million professional football matches have taken place over the last century and a half. In over fifteen million hours of play never before in the history of the World has an allegation of handball been dealt with retrospectively. If the Compliance Officer can explain to me what is so very different about the second semi final of the 2015 William Hill Scottish Cup from the over ten million matches that went before it then I might just be prepared to accept that there is a case to answer....

Josh's culpability requires to be proved but not beyond reasonable doubt. He has not been charged with a criminal offence.

After consultation with interested parties, the Independent three man tribunal has been selected and will consist of Andy Walker, Dr John Reid and Billy McNeill.....

The trouble is that while FIFA are not running scared of Celtic the SFA are....and are apparently willing to make up rules as they go along to appease them....

Good find, Davie! Need to get this widely circulated. With any luck it will tee the SFA up for ridicule should the verdict go the wrong way tomorrow, which will help to fuel the fire and (hopefully) keep the club keen on pursuing the issue. Edit - It's OK - BBC have got hold of this now, so there should be good coverage. Aye, since this seems to be 'Trial By Sportsound' the BBC airing the views of the World's most senior referee supervisor might do no harm....

Oh I sincerely hope so.....

While FIFA have no jurisdition, I am not surprised that their senior referees supervisor takes a dim view. Not only has this never been done in Scotland before but never anywhere in the World where there are almost 200 individual national associations. In our efforts to bend over backwards to the dangerous, paranoid Leviathan that dominates our domestic game we are putting ourselves at odd with and out of step with the entire planet. Beyond farce.....

Having had 24 hours to consider this now, I believe I am able to be cooler and rational about the whole matter. My considered, cool and rational view is that it is simply absurd and untenable. The process, although not in court, is a quasi judicial one and is thus governed by basic legal principles. The first of these is the matter of precedent. The system of review at the instance of the Compliance Officer has been in place now for four seasons and, in principle, covers all national league, Scottish Cup and League Cup matches. In practice it has related for four years to all matches where there is some TV coverage which is all top tier matches, a good number of second tier matches some lower league games, most League Cup ties and all Scottish Cup ties. By my rough calculation that must be something in the region of two thousand matches so far. I suspect that at least one in twenty of them at some stage involves a contentious handball decision preventing a goal scoring opportunity. So there have probably, over the years, been a hundred or so such incidents caught on camera and the Compliance Officer has never before sought to review a single one of those. Accordingly, there is no precedent for bringing this sort of prosecution. I would go further and suggest that, for very sound and pragmatic reasons, there is actually now a well established precedent for not reviewing these matters. That being the case, in my view, before this gets off first base the Compliance Officer is obliged to show why, in this particular case, he should be departing from established precedent and practice. That has to be a sound and objective reason. The fact that this was very high profile and that the bad losers are making such a hue and cry will simply not suffice. The second legal principal is even more fundamental and is a matter of proof and natural justice. Josh has been charged with preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity by foul and illegal means namely deliberate handball. Firstly there is the question of whether it was a clear goal scoring opportunity. The onus is on the Compliance officer to prove that and there is a great deal of doubt as to whether the ball was heading into the net. Thereafter, Did Josh prevent it ? Preventing a goal scoring opportunity is not an offence in itself. In fact, as a defender, it's Josh's job to prevent goal scoring opportunities and I for one would be pretty upset with him if he didn't. Most crucially, however, is the need to prove that the handball was intentional. In live play proof is not an issue. If, in the opinion of the referee, it is intentional hand ball in these circumstances, a penalty is given and the player is sent to the dressing room. No proof is required it is merely a matter of the referee's discretion and opinion. However, the matter is now in a quasi judicial forum and it has to go far beyond one man's opinion and there has to be proof not just of the handball but of the intent. The onus of proof lies squarely with the Compliance Officer. Josh does not have to prove that the act was unintentional. In fact, Josh has to prove nothing. In all the circumstances, I cannot for the life of me see how Josh can be convicted and suspended on the basis of the evidence available to the tribunal. That said, do I think Josh will be convicted and suspended for the final ? Sadly, yes I do. Not on the basis of objective fairness and application of the law but entirely due to the fact that the paranoid and unsporting hoards in the East End of Glasgow are baying for blood and I am afraid that Josh and ICT will be sacrificed on that alter. Should that happen, as I fear it will, Scottish football will have contrived to hit a new low.

So John Collins states as a matter of fact that ICT would have lost being behind and down to ten men. Will someone please send him a DVD of last season's League Cup semi. We are quite capable of winning semi finals whilst down to NINE men and behind and whilst playing in our opponents back yard. What turned the match on Sunday was not one refereeing decision but the hard work, passion and skill of the ICT players especially in the second half and extra time.

About as angry about this as I was about efforts to keep The Rangers Newco in the SPL three and a bit years ago and with just as much legal, sporting and moral merit. We need to make a stand on this and if Josh loses woe betide Scottish football.

Judge Judy surely.....

In related news Police Scotland have sent a report to the Procurator Fiscal alleging that between the hours of 12.15 and approximately 15.00 hours on the afternoon of Sunday 19th April 2015 in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow a group of hardened criminals from the Highlands assaulted Glasgow Celtic Football Club and robbed them of their rightful place in the Scottish Cup Final.

FIFA control international football they have no jurisdiction, then again, appealing to a body with no jurisdiction would be no more of a farce than the complaint being laid by the Compliance Officer in the first place...

can the SFA cite a single example of an alleged handball being refereed retrospectively in the past ? This is not what the system is for and it has never been used in this way before. As I said in my previous post, if Josh is convicted and suspended it will be an outrage. They may as well cite all those ICT fans who were 'pulling down Celtic players in the box'....

That is unprecedented and is a direct result of Celtic's unsporting and petulant behavior in the wake of their loss of the treble they seemed to think was their right. Of course he defends it. How on earth can they prove retrospectively that it wasn't accidental ? If he is suspended it will be simply outrageous,

No indeed. We may be favourites but it will be a stiff task with no room to be complacent.

More recently, Adam Rooney was very reliable. Sneckboy we need some stats here! Steady on...that will take him a good ten minutes

Our best penalty taker since Paul Sheerin.

A blessing in the end, you didn't miss much. No spoilers! I've got it recorded on SKY+ and intend to watch it this afternoon - as, yet I've managed to 'avoid' hearing the score. Skip the first half, without giving anything away, all the decent action is in the second half and extra time..

Well said...