Standard of refereeing in the Scottish Championship

[emerald green]

I don't make any apologies for returning once again to this subject.

Today, one of our so-called "top" referees, Willie Collum, was yet again making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Wilson hauls down the Falkirk player, clearly outside the box, to most people watching in the stadium. Clear to all. Except the officials. Why is that happening so often?

Then, he awards The Rangers a very soft penalty in the dying seconds (shock!) which they failed to convert I'm delighted to say. Did Collum realise he had got it completely wrong earlier, and this was him attempting to "even things up"? If so, that is not the way football matches should be getting refereed. Will Collum (and his assistant) be asked to explain themselves? If not, expect more of the same.

Goodness knows what sort of stuff will happen at Ibrox a week on Monday. There's far too much at stake to have games refereed in this manner.

I know referees are human, and because of this they will inevitably make mistakes from time to time. However it's the frequency that referees seem to be getting these often game changing decisions completely wrong that I find unacceptable.

[blackpoolhibs]

I don't make any apologies for returning once again to this subject.

Today, one of our so-called "top" referees, Willie Collum, was yet again making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Wilson hauls down the Falkirk player, clearly outside the box, to most people watching in the stadium. Clear to all. Except the officials. Why is that happening so often?

Then, he awards The Rangers a very soft penalty in the dying seconds (shock!) which they failed to convert I'm delighted to say. Did Collum realise he had got it completely wrong earlier, and this was him attempting to "even things up"? If so, that is not the way football matches should be getting refereed. Will Collum (and his assistant) be asked to explain themselves? If not, expect more of the same.

Goodness knows what sort of stuff will happen at Ibrox a week on Monday. There's far too much at stake to have games refereed in this manner.

I know referees are human, and because of this they will inevitably make mistakes from time to time. However it's the frequency that referees seem to be getting these often game changing decisions completely wrong that I find unacceptable.

The manner of that penalty at the end said to me that the game is corrupt, never a pen but he had to give it to make up for his assistants blunder.

It happens way too many times for it to be bad luck.:rolleyes:

[linlithgowhibbie]

Sorry to disagree guys but I thought the huns was a penalty, Shame he missed it tho' eh!!!! Hee hee hee:thumbsup:

[erin go bragh]

Get the Maltese guys in for Castle Greyskull :-) Our refs are ******.

GGTTH

[NadeAteMyLunch!]

And the fact that Wilson was last man but only got a yellow

[PatHead]

Why did the referee not book the QoS player when he fouled McGinn and the play was called back for a throw? He had a card out then put it away.

[Hermit Crab]

And the fact that Wilson was last man but only got a yellow


Never a red, player and ball going away from goal. Not a clear goal scoring opportunity. You're looking for something that isn't there mate.

[SausageSurprise]

Also noticed when Fyvie I think went down about 10-15 yards from the sideline he allowed the free kick to be taken in the centre circle

Referees getting in the road is my biggest pet hate in football and his 33-33-33 today was up there with one of the best/worst I've seen

[linlithgowhibbie]

Why did the referee not book the QoS player when he fouled McGinn and the play was called back for a throw? He had a card out then put it away.


I couldnt understand that either. The guy howked him down and as the whistle hadnt gone for the shy the game was technically still in play. Defo a booking!!!

[BoomtownHibees]

Never a red, player and ball going away from goal. Not a clear goal scoring opportunity. You're looking for something that isn't there mate.

He wasn't "going away from goal" though was he?

[O'Rourke3]

Never a red, player and ball going away from goal. Not a clear goal scoring opportunity. You're looking for something that isn't there mate.
He went left to avoid the clear "professional foul" Wilson was pointing it was outside the box before the ref had even blown. Rips my knitting that one as a professional foul used to be red.

Sent via the bushes @ EM

[maturehibby]

Am beginning to doubt it but I saw the QOS player put the head on Malonga as they went off at the end of the game .
Colvin and the two Assistant referees were way out near the 18 yard line beside the East Stand so never saw it - hope it is on the TV highlights and that Kidd gets nailed for his "Thuggery"

[Thecat23]

I notice today Brian Colvin was the ref. I've just read on his wife's FB page he's retiring. I've dropped him a message to ask if he's chucking it altogether or just doing the odd game.

I've always liked Brian, huge Jambo at school as well but he wasn't a bad ref I don't think.

[maturehibby]

Colvin was extremely poor today allowing the QOS players to bully him back chat him and get away with a lot of cynical tackles too without calling them to task and booked Hibs player first after letting several bad fouls go from them and was far away from it all at full time when it kicked off at the Tunnel mouth - no loss if he retires

[emerald green]

I notice today Brian Colvin was the ref. I've just read on his wife's FB page he's retiring. I've dropped him a message to ask if he's chucking it altogether or just doing the odd game.

I've always liked Brian, huge Jambo at school as well but he wasn't a bad ref I don't think.

I heard today was his last match. His last action should be to report the actions of a couple of QOS players at the end of the match. What's the chances of that though?

[Thecat23]

I heard today was his last match. His last action should be to report the actions of a couple of QOS players at the end of the match. What's the chances of that though?

I'd hope he would as he's a good pro. But who knows mate!

[Hermit Crab]

He wasn't "going away from goal" though was he?


Aye he was, he certainly was not bearing down on goal. Never a red, if that was given as a red against us you'd be raging.

[Danderhall Hibs]

I heard today was his last match. His last action should be to report the actions of a couple of QOS players at the end of the match. What's the chances of that though?

Great way for him to end! Obviously been pissed off at timewasters over the years and sorted him out!

[emerald green]

I'd hope he would as he's a good pro. But who knows mate!

I hope so too. Lyle in particular was bang out of order.

[BoomtownHibees]

Aye he was, he certainly was not bearing down on goal. Never a red, if that was given as a red against us you'd be raging.

The boy was running in to the box with no other defender near him. Red imo

[wookie70]

The boy was running in to the box with no other defender near him. Red imo

I agree. He had skipped past the defender and was central enough to but a good shot in. The goal Falkirk got chalked off came from a not dissimilar position.

I am interested in the Falkirk penalty too. If a player is tackled outside the box but the contact continues and the player ends up in the box then imo an advantage is played and a penalty is a fair enough result. Not sure of the rule though

[Scouse Hibee]

Standard is atrocoius, zero consistency in decisions and bizarre interpretations of the rules, add that to the obvious poor eyesight of officials who can't even tell if a foul occurs inside a lined box. Professional referees my erse.

[Loopz]

Threads about referees never fail to really annoy me. I have a Jambo brother in law who blames the ref any time they lose (Or my nephews team). I think anyone who blames a ref has never actually been in a position of real responsibility. Yes they get decisions wrong every week, but until we introduce technology to help them we are going to have to put up with basic human errors sometimes affecting the results of our games. Without these people having the courage to stand in the middle of our games and officiate, we would not have a game to watch :confused:. Again I will repeat technology with the correct process is the only way to take our game forward. I also have a son that plays U15s and have been enouraged at the standard of young refereeing at his age group.

[Speedy]

Sorry to disagree guys but I thought the huns was a penalty, Shame he missed it tho' eh!!!! Hee hee hee:thumbsup:

Might be a pisstake but...you thought the defender meant to handle the ball?

[Pete]

Threads about referees never fail to really annoy me. I have a Jambo brother in law who blames the ref any time they lose (Or my nephews team). I think anyone who blames a ref has never actually been in a position of real responsibility. Yes they get decisions wrong every week, but until we introduce technology to help them we are going to have to put up with basic human errors sometimes affecting the results of our games. Without these people having the courage to stand in the middle of our games and officiate, we would not have a game to watch :confused:. Again I will repeat technology with the correct process is the only way to take our game forward. I also have a son that plays U15s and have been enouraged at the standard of young refereeing at his age group.

Referees definitely need help as it's easy to forget that the officials are at ground level and have to make split second decisions regarding men who can run 100m in 11seconds. The American sports leave nothing to chance as there is so much at stake so I don't know why replays or fifth officials aren't adopted in football. Maybe the Luddites will think that "technology" means the gateway opening to cyborg refs of something.

Respect is another issue and a reason why we might run out of refs in the future but it's against a backdrop of cultural bias regarding referees. In Scotland it was rife in the sixties, seventies and eighties and Graham Poll has admitted live on air that games at old Trafford were refereed "differently". Think Fergie time.

There has to be changes which start with the elimination of these "borderline" decision based on human variables. Only then can the trust grow to make it an attractive career option. All it really takes is a guy in the stands with a monitor who is miked to the officials.

[emerald green]

Threads about referees never fail to really annoy me. I have a Jambo brother in law who blames the ref any time they lose (Or my nephews team). I think anyone who blames a ref has never actually been in a position of real responsibility. Yes they get decisions wrong every week, but until we introduce technology to help them we are going to have to put up with basic human errors sometimes affecting the results of our games. Without these people having the courage to stand in the middle of our games and officiate, we would not have a game to watch :confused:. Again I will repeat technology with the correct process is the only way to take our game forward. I also have a son that plays U15s and have been enouraged at the standard of young refereeing at his age group.

Not my intention to annoy anyone, I just feel it's an important issue in our game and worthy of debate.

If you read the last sentence again in my OP you'll see I say that referees make mistakes from time to time. However, it's the frequency which these glaring errors seem to be happening (or is being highlighted more these days) often in game changing decisions.

Yesterday Collum, yet again, got things very badly wrong. He is supposedly a good enough referee to officiate at Euro 2016 I believe, yet his recent record of high profile errors must surely be questioned. Or are referees to be treated as infallible and never questioned?

I don't blame referees (or their assistants) whenever Hibs lose, but there are some times when the finger of blame should be pointed fairly & squarely where it belongs - at officials who simply have not done their jobs properly, and which they are well paid to do.

What's the answer? There's no easy answers because there's always someone who will come along and disagree when changes are proposed. Some folk just for the hell of it I suspect. But to sit back, do nothing, and accept that the status quo cannot be improved upon is wrong IMHO.

I agree with you that the use of technology would help. I also think it would help if referees and their assistants were allowed to speak openly, perhaps 24 hours after a match, to explain any contentious decisions made during a match. Why does this not happen already if there's nothing to hide?


Referees definitely need help as it's easy to forget that the officials are at ground level and have to make split second decisions regarding men who can run 100m in 11seconds. The American sports leave nothing to chance as there is so much at stake so I don't know why replays or fifth officials aren't adopted in football. Maybe the Luddites will think that "technology" means the gateway opening to cyborg refs of something.

There has to be changes which start with the elimination of these "borderline" decision based on human variables. Only then can the trust grow to make it an attractive career option. All it really takes is a guy in the stands with a monitor who is miked to the officials.

:agree:

[The_Sauz]

Threads about referees never fail to really annoy me. I have a Jambo brother in law who blames the ref any time they lose (Or my nephews team). I think anyone who blames a ref has never actually been in a position of real responsibility. Yes they get decisions wrong every week, but until we introduce technology to help them we are going to have to put up with basic human errors sometimes affecting the results of our games. Without these people having the courage to stand in the middle of our games and officiate, we would not have a game to watch :confused:. Again I will repeat technology with the correct process is the only way to take our game forward. I also have a son that plays U15s and have been enouraged at the standard of young refereeing at his age group.

They (the ref's) have been asked about bringing the new tech into our game over the last 2/3 years to help them, and each time they & the SFA have refused!

[Onion]

Colvin was extremely poor today allowing the QOS players to bully him back chat him and get away with a lot of cynical tackles too without calling them to task and booked Hibs player first after letting several bad fouls go from them and was far away from it all at full time when it kicked off at the Tunnel mouth - no loss if he retires

What about the incident in the first half where McGinn was hammering down the sideline and got halved in two by the QOS defender. The ref went to his pocket to book the thug but then changed his mind because the lino decided the ball went over the line.

When were the rules changed so you can commit any offence when the ball's out of play ?

[O'Rourke3]

They (the ref's) have been asked about bringing the new tech into our game over the last 2/3 years to help them, and each time they & the SFA have refused!

Said it all when we refused to allow the disappearing spray paint in the league for half a season...

[Scouse Hibee]

Threads about referees never fail to really annoy me. I have a Jambo brother in law who blames the ref any time they lose (Or my nephews team). I think anyone who blames a ref has never actually been in a position of real responsibility. Yes they get decisions wrong every week, but until we introduce technology to help them we are going to have to put up with basic human errors sometimes affecting the results of our games. Without these people having the courage to stand in the middle of our games and officiate, we would not have a game to watch :confused:. Again I will repeat technology with the correct process is the only way to take our game forward. I also have a son that plays U15s and have been enouraged at the standard of young refereeing at his age group.

Not agreeing with that at all. Some of the decisions are downright awful with no excuse for getting such simple decisions wrong. The sooner the 3 active officials officiate together and make the calls that they actually see the better.If the linesman or whatever they call themselves pay attention to the game they will see so much and need to have the balls to say so. We don't need technology to ref a game of football just a team of officials that work as a team.

[Alfred E Newman]

It's frustrating when you are on the receiving end of poor decisions but to be honest, I hope we never get to the day where refereeing mistakes are eliminated all together. Some of the best afternoons entertainment over the years have been on days when the ref has totally lost the plot.

[dangermouse]

And the fact that Wilson was last man but only got a yellow

There is no "last man" rule in football, it is a myth. The rule is denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.

[maturehibby]

Not just our league that suffers from bad decisions I watched the Birmingham v Cardiff game which Birmingham won by a penalty - on the play back it was clearly shown that the ball hit the Cardiff defender flush on the face and even drew blood but referee gave the penalty which won the game

[hibbytam]

They (the ref's) have been asked about bringing the new tech into our game over the last 2/3 years to help them, and each time they & the SFA have refused!

I do feel sorry for the refs when they get something wrong, because I do genuinely believe they're out there doing their best, and they could really do with the help that could be given additional help to make the right call. Especially at the highest levels (World cups ect)

Unless it's against hibs, then they're cheating, probably bribed or otherwise biased hun/hearts/etc person of dubious parentage and hygiene.

[Mr White]

There is no "last man" rule in football, it is a myth. The rule is denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Which is generally decided by whether another defender could block the opportunity no? So whilst there may not be an explicit last man rule, more often than not a challenge by the last man equals a red?

[Holmesdale Hibs]

The standard of refereeing in Scotland has always been poor. Most of it is probably honest mistakes but I do genuinely believe that there have been cases of corruption. The penalty the Huns got at PBS a few years back (linesman was a season ticket holder at Ibrox) springs to mind as the most blatant. But there have been countless dodgy decisions the OF have had over the years.

Some bad referees in the Premiership as well but with the speed the players move at and the amount of diving going in it must be an extremely difficult job and mistakes are inevitable.

[Mr White]

The standard of refereeing in Scotland has always been poor. Most of it is probably honest mistakes but I do genuinely believe that there have been cases of corruption. The penalty the Huns got at PBS a few years back (linesman was a season ticket holder at Ibrox) springs to mind as the most blatant. But there have been countless dodgy decisions the OF have had over the years.

Some bad referees in the Premiership as well but with the speed the players move at and the amount of diving going in it must be an extremely difficult job and mistakes are inevitable.

:agree: Kenny millers goal at easter road last season is a good example. The kind of decision that would never ever go against celtc or sevco but regularly go in their favour.

[PatHead]

Referees definitely need help as it's easy to forget that the officials are at ground level and have to make split second decisions regarding men who can run 100m in 11seconds. The American sports leave nothing to chance as there is so much at stake so I don't know why replays or fifth officials aren't adopted in football. Maybe the Luddites will think that "technology" means the gateway opening to cyborg refs of something.

Respect is another issue and a reason why we might run out of refs in the future but it's against a backdrop of cultural bias regarding referees. In Scotland it was rife in the sixties, seventies and eighties and Graham Poll has admitted live on air that games at old Trafford were refereed "differently". Think Fergie time.

There has to be changes which start with the elimination of these "borderline" decision based on human variables. Only then can the trust grow to make it an attractive career option. All it really takes is a guy in the stands with a monitor who is miked to the officials.

The problem with introducing technology is that the guy in the stand would only see it from 1 angle. He could easily get the decision wrong. Look at the rugby world cup when the tv ref has 4 or 5 looks from different angles before coming up with a decision. I just think it wouldn't work.

Finally if they can't afford a guy to hold up the board stating how much injury time there is what chance do we have of paying for someone in the stand with tv monitor?

[GlesgaeHibby]

Collum had another nightmare in the Aberdeen v Inverness game at the weekend. Two more penalties awarded that were never penalties. Including the Falkirk v Sevco game he's dished out 4 penalties in 2 games, none of which were penalties. Michael Stewart was spot on about Collum on sportscene last night.

[lucky]

The standard of refereeing is about the same standard as the playing. Both are very poor but it's the blatant cheating/bias which makes the refereeing seem worse in Scotland than anywhere else

[Onion]

The standard of refereeing is about the same standard as the playing. Both are very poor but it's the blatant cheating/bias which makes the refereeing seem worse in Scotland than anywhere else

:agree: Honest mistakes even themselves out over time. Blatant bias and corrupt decisions are there for all to see, and for the media to ignore :cb

[jdships]

The standard of refereeing is about the same standard as the playing. Both are very poor but it's the blatant cheating/bias which makes the refereeing seem worse in Scotland than anywhere else

:agree:
:top marks for underlined/black quote !!

[H18 SFR]

Collum had another nightmare in the Aberdeen v Inverness game at the weekend. Two more penalties awarded that were never penalties. Including the Falkirk v Sevco game he's dished out 4 penalties in 2 games, none of which were penalties. Michael Stewart was spot on about Collum on sportscene last night.

I missed Sportscene, what did MS say?

[GlesgaeHibby]

I missed Sportscene, what did MS say?

That Collum isn't up to it. 4 incorrect penalties awarded in a row, he's far too keen to give them, has no real understanding of football (see ICT penalty, ICT player runs accross Aberdeen player who has eyes only for the ball and both collide, penalty ICT).