Our Prayers Could be Answered

[Libero]

Does anyone know if any of the refs actually been confirmed for this weekend? Cant seem to find anything official and i noticed this in the Daily Record:

Officials from Poland, Israel, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg and Malta will take charge of the six top-flight matches and ALBA Challenge Cup Final after Hampden chiefs failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop Scotland's top whistlers withdrawing their labour. The foreign legion were cobbled together over a dramatic and frantic period of negotiations yesterday to bring an end to what has become a 40-day crisis. But the day was also one of the most bizarre yet. The SFA were at the centre of another cover-up when they refused to reveal the identities of the officials.

[SanMiguel]

Some guy in my work recons he heard on the radio that celtic complained about the original ref above and now we have some polish ref?

Any word?

[ictchris]

Polish ref's have pulled out, according to Sky Sports News.

[ictchris]

Polish ref team has pulled out, according to SSN.

[HumbersideDude]

SPL should just cancel all games, and stop themselves and Scottish football from becoming and even bigger laughing stock and looking desperate! It seems that these foreign refs after being approached, must be researching the situation in Scotland, and deciding its not worth the grief.

[gordyfromsneck]

The Dude is right. They should respect the refs right to be heard. No to SCABS.

[Govan Jaggie]

I am fed up hearing about them. Yes certain managers and clubs have treated them badly but what do they really expect to change?

[TSTtiger]

I think the refs are bang on and the sfa have already offered some options to improve things.I guess discussions on that will continue at some point soon and I'm sure things will change and hopefully guys like Lennon and John Reid will be dealt with appropriately.

I would have rather seen all games off as this foreign ref search is getting beyond a joke but obviously contractual demands seem to come first

[MissICT]

when do they have to say wether the game is on or not?

[tm4tj]

Hmmmnnnnn.......................Celtic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Game at Parkhead called off on a Saturday and held again, maybe midweek, now where have I heard about that before...............

[Govan Jaggie]

Our ref is Alain Harner from Luxembourg along with 2 assistants from Luxenbourg and a Scottish fourth official.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Govan Jaggie

[Caley Stan]

Did Celtic consult the CIA World Factbook before sanctioning this appointment?

87% of Luxembourgers are Roman Catholic. Were fecked.

[ictchris]

Did Celtic consult the CIA World Factbook before sanctioning this appointment?

87% of Luxembourgers are Roman Catholic. Were fecked.

He refereed Rangers v Werder Bremen in 2008 and booked two Bremen players and one Rangers player. It's clear where his loyalties lie ;)

[TopSix]

Full list of appontments can be found here:

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football_document_libraries.cfm?page=715

[Alex MacLeod]

Did Celtic consult the CIA World Factbook before sanctioning this appointment?

87% of Luxembourgers are Roman Catholic. Were fecked.

Only in the central belt does religous bias come into football so I think I'd trust the integrity and judgement of a european ref regardless of his religion.

[CaleyStag]

I'm going to be controversial here, because I don't have much sympathy for the referees. Yes they may well have a difficult job, but that doesn't excuse them from being as consistenty terrible as they have been. The mistakes being made by referees, not just in Scotland, but right across England as well have been slowly getting more severe. The consequences of their mistakes are greater because they're getting massive, game-changing decisions wrong. A lot of teams in the country could argue that they would be better off by a few points if referees had been doing their jobs properly.

They shouldn't be excluded from abuse and criticism because their jobs are dfficult. Point is, they've been bloody awful these last couple of seasons and are rightly getting the criticism their displays have deserved. And now they've thrown their toys out of their prams because they can't hack it. They're making a big deal of this Respect Campign, but if they want respect from players, fans and management, they have to earn that respect by doing their jobs properly. You can't have respect by default. Treat others as you would want to be treated youself, as my grandfather used to say. Referees don't do their jobs to the best of their abilties, make too many mistakes, are getting too consistent in their incorrect decision making, and are robbing teams of points. That doesn't deserve respect, it deserves criticism.

About bloody time too.

[Scotty]

same officials as the Celtic game are doing the Rangers game on Sunday !!!

[MissICT]

As Butcher is saying, focus on the game, not the ref!

[TopSix]

As Butcher is saying, focus on the game, not the ref!

It's Hamer time! I heard the gaffers interview about this on radio Scotland last night. Thought he summed it up beautifully, This game tomorrow certainly has a really different dimension with the referee appointments.

[TopSix]

Right. I've been reading up on Mr Hamer online. He's nearing the end of his refereeing career (47 is retirement age) and apparently gives free kicks for very little contact. It appears he is quite card-happy. Unlike Douglas McDonald who talks players through games.

[lukemackay]

the referee we have is better than every other referee in scotland

with the exception of willie collum

[12th Man]

Some guy in my work recons he heard on the radio that celtic complained about the original ref above and now we have some polish ref?

Any word?

Luxembourg, would have preferred Israel, just so it winds up ignorant Celtic fans.

[starchief]

I'm going to be controversial here, because I don't have much sympathy for the referees. Yes they may well have a difficult job, but that doesn't excuse them from being as consistenty terrible as they have been. The mistakes being made by referees, not just in Scotland, but right across England as well have been slowly getting more severe. The consequences of their mistakes are greater because they're getting massive, game-changing decisions wrong. A lot of teams in the country could argue that they would be better off by a few points if referees had been doing their jobs properly.

They shouldn't be excluded from abuse and criticism because their jobs are dfficult. Point is, they've been bloody awful these last couple of seasons and are rightly getting the criticism their displays have deserved. And now they've thrown their toys out of their prams because they can't hack it. They're making a big deal of this Respect Campign, but if they want respect from players, fans and management, they have to earn that respect by doing their jobs properly. You can't have respect by default. Treat others as you would want to be treated youself, as my grandfather used to say. Referees don't do their jobs to the best of their abilties, make too many mistakes, are getting too consistent in their incorrect decision making, and are robbing teams of points. That doesn't deserve respect, it deserves criticism.

About bloody time too.

Do you think the refereeing is any better at the World Cup, or the Champions League? I certainly don't. Roll down the socks of a player and it's a free kick and yellow card.

Anyway, it's not about if the refs are any good. It's 'are they biased?' And I wouldn't say it's even that so much. In the heat of the moment, with a manager's job on the line, he might say something he may not entirely mean. But for a chairman, in the cold light of day, to make accusations (shrouded ones of course - he's a bloody politician) that refs are bigoted anti-Catholics, hence why Celtic don't get any of the decisions (show me one fan outside of the OF that thinks that!). This is what's led to refs getting their windows smashed and abusive, threatening phone calls to their family.

It's not the criticism of their performance, it's criticism of their integrity.

The solution? Dougie McDonald and John Reid to resign (Reid to then stand trial in front of a group of injured soldiers and widows of personnel from Iraq for the judgment on his lies - I know who I think is the greater evil)

[alternative maryhill]

Breaking news on Sportsound... apparently the Portuguese refs landed in Glasgow, heard the truth about the strike and got on the next plane home. Two more games probably off. What a massive clusterf*ck.

Hope they don't start transferring the refs around in an effort to protect the televised games, or we might find our game is off after all. Looking forward to this game is the only thing that's been keeping me sane over the past couple of days.

..and now they're reporting that the SFA are claiming they still have cover for these guys and that the six SPL games will go ahead. Sheesh.

Edited November 26, 2010 by alternative maryhill

[MissICT]

Breaking news on Sportsound... apparently the Portuguese refs landed in Glasgow, heard the truth about the strike and got on the next plane home. Two more games probably off. What a massive clusterf*ck.

Hope they don't start transferring the refs around in an effort to protect the televised games, or we might find our game is off after all. Looking forward to this game is the only thing that's been keeping me sane over the past couple of days.

..and now they're reporting that the SFA are claiming they still have cover for these guys and that the six SPL games will go ahead. Sheesh.

They were just saying on sportsound that there could be another twist in the tale...

Edited November 26, 2010 by MissICT