Grant Irvine

[Pretty Boy]

Last night referee. How bad was he?

I'm in no way blaming him for us dropping 2 points but that was as inept a refereeing performance as I have seen in a long time and in Scottish football that is saying something.

We often see discussion about why some referees get little respect and when you see a performance like last night you have to question whether it merits any respect. He was inconsistent, often looked confrontational and aggressive towards players, was clearly unfit and struggling with the pace of the game (and it was hardly blistering) and was regularly poorly positioned and unable to make informed decisions.

He should be nowhere near top level games until he improves dramatically.

[Tyler Durden]

Just unfathomable how he can book Levitt for a rather innocuous foul having let much much worse go unpunished prior to that.

Not a criticism of Irvine but there were 7 minutes injury time last night but only 3 in the game against Dundee with Beaton in charge. It's just a lottery with these chumps.

[Edinburgh Green]

He was abysmal! the fact that Levitt was the first booking of the night for his first foul summed him up.

[DaveF]

He let fairly strong challenges go most of the time and then blew for extremely soft fouls which made absolutely no sense. Absolutely useless and probably another one who will never see a Rantic game because they will know how crap he is.

[Hunts]

How him and the assistant missed the handball near the end and definite second yellow was unbelievable

[Fuzzywuzzy]

I watched it on TV. I can't remember what incident it was (either handball or Boyle offside) the east stand linesman just shrugged his shoulders in a "I don't know" kind of way

[Musselbound]

He was really poor and several times missed incidents as he wasn't even watching the play but was looking at something else. I'm usually pretty calm with refs but was up off my seat at one point. Fortunately I don't think his performance had any real bearing on the result but it was pretty inept. The booking of Levitt being one example.

[GreenPJ]

The yellow cards (or lack of them) was bewildering as was the decision to wait one minute for Ross County to make a triple substitution when they clearly were not ready.

[EastStandGates]

Late in the second half towards block 43-44 in the East (near the south stand). Clear as day foul via a push on Miller and he awards a corner.
to RC. 2 minutes later, a Hibs player does the same on a County player near the centre of the park and a freekick.

The inconsistency last night was scary if this is the level of top-flight referee's.

[matty_f]

His performance was bizarre, and that’s being kind. Absolutely hopeless.

[LaMotta]

Interesting that there was a tweet flagged up last night from a few months back from a former Grade 1 official calling out Irvine for being completely out his depth:

Barlos 🇳🇬 on X: "After referee Grant Irvine's utterly clueless performance tonight at Easter Road it's no surprise to see this previous tweet about him. Shouldn't even be refereeing park football. #Hibs https://t.co/3jbf4StGJU" / X (twitter.com) (https://twitter.com/Barlosthecat/status/1719469161116586042)

Number 14 Loturi for Ross County got away with a blatant booking in the first half. The most regulation booking you will ever see when he hauled back Miller yet no yellow. That allowed him to take out Jair later on when we were on the attack, then he deliberately handled it soon after and no action!!! That shows how poor refereeing can influence a game.

There were several other tackles that he should/could have booked one of them for before the Levitt challenge - so inconsistent that he was first to be booked.

Maybe the most baffling was when Miller was clearly barged over in the second half near the byline (he got up and squared up to the guy) and then Irvine gave a corner...

Only ref that I've seen come close to him in incompetence is Craig Napier.

Irvine hasn't had many top level games before (Grant Irvine - Referee - Latest game assignments, game history and yellow/red card details - Sports Mole (https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/people/grant-irvine/))- Question though - why do these refs get a game like Hibs v Ross County? As if That game is not that important? Why has he never reffed a Rangers game for example?? Using other teams as guinea pigs....

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

He was abysmal! the fact that Levitt was the first booking of the night for his first foul summed him up.

We called it after the first 2 or 3 heavy County challenges that Hibs would be on the end of the first booking as the result of a rather inocuous foul.

[JimBHibees]

Last night referee. How bad was he?

I'm in no way blaming him for us dropping 2 points but that was as inept a refereeing performance as I have seen in a long time and in Scottish football that is saying something.

We often see discussion about why some referees get little respect and when you see a performance like last night you have to question whether it merits any respect. He was inconsistent, often looked confrontational and aggressive towards players, was clearly unfit and struggling with the pace of the game (and it was hardly blistering) and was regularly poorly positioned and unable to make informed decisions.

He should be nowhere near top level games until he improves dramatically.

Completely agree utterly horrific so many fouls missed no attempt to control persistent fouling and genuinely seemed to have no understanding of the game. One in the second half Miller cleared out near our box and he gives a corner. Thought his decisions in the main only benefited one team.

[NAE NOOKIE]

He was abysmal. Summed up by Levitt being the first player he booked after Ross County had already committed about 5 fouls worse than the one he was booked for. Somebody need to tell refs in this league that the totting up process doesn't go 'right the team playing Hibs have already committed 5 fouls, the next Hibs player to commit one is getting booked, coz that's what seems to happen all the time.

Reminded me of the Hibs v Celtic game a few seasons back where the ref ignored a series of Celtic fouls, which IMO was directly responsible for Kevin Nisbet's season ending injury in that game. Little consolation to Nizzy that the guy was booked for it as the ref finally found the card he should have used about 5 fouls before.

[wookie70]

How County had 11 on the pitch at the end is a mystery to be. The push in teh back of Miller is the most obvious foul I think I have ever seen and he gave a corner. One of teh worst I have seen for a long time and he had a bearing on the result for me albeit not as much as our manager or goalkeeper

[Brightside]

Should have been at least 4 yellows in the first half. Similar v Celtic tbh. Refs appear to just make it up as they go.

[Carheenlea]

It wasn’t a difficult game to referee. He managed to make it difficult.

[snedzuk]

Interesting that there was a tweet flagged up last night from a few months back from a former Grade 1 official calling out Irvine for being completely out his depth:

Barlos 🇳🇬 on X: "After referee Grant Irvine's utterly clueless performance tonight at Easter Road it's no surprise to see this previous tweet about him. Shouldn't even be refereeing park football. #Hibs https://t.co/3jbf4StGJU" / X (twitter.com) (https://twitter.com/Barlosthecat/status/1719469161116586042)

Number 14 Loturi for Ross County got away with a blatant booking in the first half. The most regulation booking you will ever see when he hauled back Miller yet no yellow. That allowed him to take out Jair later on when we were on the attack, then he deliberately handled it soon after and no action!!! That shows how poor refereeing can influence a game.

There were several other tackles that he should/could have booked one of them for before the Levitt challenge - so inconsistent that he was first to be booked.

Maybe the most baffling was when Miller was clearly barged over in the second half near the byline (he got up and squared up to the guy) and then Irvine gave a corner...

Only ref that I've seen come close to him in incompetence is Craig Napier.

Irvine hasn't had many top level games before (Grant Irvine - Referee - Latest game assignments, game history and yellow/red card details - Sports Mole (https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/people/grant-irvine/))- Question though - why do these refs get a game like Hibs v Ross County? As if That game is not that important? Why has he never reffed a Rangers game for example?? Using other teams as guinea pigs....

Loturi also had an off the ball kick at one of our players at the second half kick off.

[Unseen work]

It was the challenge on Jeggo for me.

Ball in the air and the county player goes right through the back of him, no attempt to win the ball and never made contact with the ball.

Even the county player looked surprised a foul wasn’t given

[hibsforeurope]

he was awful, probably the most bizarre refereeing performance I've seen in a long time at Easter Road.

But the lino running the line in his winkle pickers was far worse, it sums up the standard and professionalism of the officials in Scotland.

[Mcbizz1998]

Absolutely appalling performance, farcical. RC spent most of the first half cynically fouling with no punishment, literally the first foul we commit is a yellow card. A joke, it was as if he was deliberately trying to troll the Hibs support.

[maturehibby]

Think he was physically afraid of mad man McKay
This person is surely near a heart attack .
Overweight and totally unhinged as a person

[duffers]

Going to go against the grain here, but I thought he was actually pretty good and let the game flow….. until the levitt yellow where he then completely lost control of the match. Was utterly hopeless and made numerous mind boggling decisions.

Generally don’t think it matters which ref we are given these days as they are all as bad as each other

[JimBHibees]

Think he was physically afraid of mad man McKay
This person is surely near a heart attack .
Overweight and totally unhinged as a person

Wouldn’t rule that out as a factor given his previous sfa work. Certainly been a few games Ross county have benefited v us the ridiculous assault on Marshall last season and the game where Doidge and Boyle sent off.

[LaMotta]

Going to go against the grain here, but I thought he was actually pretty good and let the game flow….. until the levitt yellow where he then completely lost control of the match. Was utterly hopeless and made numerous mind boggling decisions.

Generally don’t think it matters which ref we are given these days as they are all as bad as each other

Really couldn't disagree more. Letting at least 2 RC players away with regulation yellows is not good refereeing. Thought he was dreadful throughout.

[allezsauzee]

worst refereeing performance I've seen at ER this season

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Really couldn't disagree more. Letting at least 2 RC players away with regulation yellows is not good refereeing. Thought he was dreadful throughout.

I concur.

[Diclonius]

Absolutely atrocious refereeing, which is usually a sign that he'll be chief ref in the next few years.

[Carheenlea]

He let fairly strong challenges go most of the time and then blew for extremely soft fouls which made absolutely no sense. Absolutely useless and probably another one who will never see a Rantic game because they will know how crap he is.

He refereed a Celtic game back in September.

I googled his name out of curiosity and there’s not a lot there other than another one of those Celtic bloggers droning on, with Irvine the subject of the ire.

The headline stated ” Why Grant Irvine should never referee another Celtic match”, so was expecting tales of an all round chaotic performance, Freemasons and anti-Celtic conspiracy but ultimately it was simply because he didn’t give them a penalty that they actually got anyway after a VAR intervention.

https://celtic365.com/2023/09/why-grant-irvine-should-never-referee-another-celtic-match/

[Bishop Hibee]

Worst ref this season so far by a mile. How neither him nor the linesman saw the handball in front of the East in the second half was incredible. The County player was smirking about it.

[maturehibby]

Napier equally as bad

[Hibernian Verse]

Napier equally as bad

He's refereeing League One this weekend unsurprisingly.

[GreenNWhiteArmy]

Napier equally as bad

He's the worst of a very bad bunch for me

[overdrive]

He's the worst of a very bad bunch for me

Napier and Irvine are the two that you can clearly see in their facial expressions that they seem to have a loathing of footballers. The look of disdain on Irvine's face towards Youan when he was injured the other night was something else.

[Carheenlea]

Napier and Irvine are the two that you can clearly see in their facial expressions that they seem to have a loathing of footballers. The look of disdain on Irvine's face towards Youan when he was injured the other night was something else.

Mind you, there were a few groans from the home stands too when the physio was called on - I interpreted that as a “come on tae F Elie, we’ve not got time for this”..

[Donegal Hibby]

He's refereeing League One this weekend unsurprisingly.

Still to high a standard for him 😁

[blackpoolhibs]

He was awful, but i just seem to shrug my shoulders now and accept it. :rolleyes:

[Ringothedog]

Mind you, there were a few groans from the home stands too when the physio was called on - I interpreted that as a “come on tae F Elie, we’ve not got time for this”..

I interpreted it has why the **** had the referee not allowed the physio on sooner

[maturehibby]

Munro not letting the thuggery off today
Brown off after 10 mins