ANOTHER weekend in Scottish football, another weekend of contentious refereeing decisions.
Mercifully, neither the penalty incidents in the Motherwell game against Celtic nor the spot kick award in the Rangers match with Queen of the South had any bearing on the final outcome of either fixture.
Ronny Deila’s side ran out 1-0 winners over Mark McGhee’s team at Fir Park courtesy of a first-half Nadir Ciftci goal to move to the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Later on Saturday, Mark Warburton’s men defeated James Fowler’s charges 2-1 at Ibrox thanks to a last-minute header from Martyn Waghorn – who had moments earlier failed to convert from 12 yards.
Both of those encounters, though, could very easily have been overshadowed by an outcry over the rulings of the match official. The fallout could, as it so often does, have rumbled on for days and days. Tiresome conspiracy theories would, once again, have abounded.
Several high-profile games in this country have already been blighted by wearying stooshies over their handling by the likes of Willie Collum, Craig Thomson and John McKendrick this term. It would have been hard to stomach another. The sooner television evidence is brought in to aid our longsuffering men-in-the-middle the better.
FIFA’s unwillingness to follow the lead taken by the governing bodies of many other mainstream sports, including cricket, rugby union and tennis, and even seriously examine, never mind sanction, the greater use of modern technology in refereeing is scandalous.
With any luck, the imminent departure of Sepp Blatter, the president of the discredited organisation, will lead to a change in this pathetic situation. The 79-year-old has long been opposed to such a move due to his desire to protect what he describes as “the universality” of the game.
Yet, those who believe television evidence will bring an end to dubiety over decisions and cure all of football’s ills are sadly mistaken.
Peter Houston was in no doubt that McKendrick had messed up when he awarded Rangers a free-kick - which they subsequently scored from - towards the end of their game his Falkirk side earlier this month following an incident involving Tom Taiwo and Nicky Law.
But reviewing footage in The Herald office, with the added assistance of slow motion and freeze frame, days later proved, as is so often the case, inconclusive. Opinion was sharply divided among those asked to offer a view. How could watching a replay have helped in that instance?
There is a possibility the authority and credibility of referees will be undermined and even the prospect that disaffection with those charged with keeping order will increase both on the pitch and in the stands.
There is also the very real danger, as the former Scottish referee Calum Murray warned in these pages last week, of the spectacle being seriously damaged.
That has certainly been the case in the Rugby World Cup. Many games have been spoiled for supporters by incessant stoppages to consult the television match official (TMO).
Indeed, the TMO resulted in the opening game between England and Fiji taking nearly 120 minutes, instead of the scheduled 80, to complete. The continuity of the match was ruined and the atmosphere inside the stadium destroyed.
Football will have to be very careful how it proceeds if and when it gets its act together.
AND ANOTHER THING
JUST when we thought we had, at long last, a meaningful challenge to Celtic in the Ladbrokes Premiership . . .
Aberdeen’s slump in form in the past four weeks has been as dramatic as their start to the season was spectacular.
Back-to-back victories over Celtic at home and Hearts away last month extended their winning start in the league to a record-breaking eight games and led many in Scottish football to predict they could sustain their title bid.
Since then? Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Aberdeen have lost in the Premiership to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, St. Johnstone and Ross County and squandered their five point lead. It is very difficult to see how they can reclaim top spot after that loss of momentum.
We should really have known better than to talk up their chances given that their budget is dwarfed by that of Celtic.
ONE LAST THING
HAVING expressed hope that Gordon Strachan would remain in charge of Scotland regardless of whether a place in the Euro 2016 finals was secured a fortnight ago, Friday’s announcement from the SFA was welcome.
Strachan has, despite the failure to qualify or, for that matter, even finish third in Group D and get into the play-offs, improved the national team considerably since succeeding Craig Levein over two and a half years ago. The 58-year-old deserves the chance to try and lead his country to the World Cup in 2018.
Yet, for all the progress Scotland have made under Strachan’s astute stewardship there is room for improvement.
Defensively, his side must do much better if they hope to make it through to Russia. The ease with which both Germany and Poland scored goals at Hampden in recent weeks was alarming.
The Republic of Ireland – an inferior football side to Scotland – conceded just seven goals in their 10 qualifying matches and finished in third place as a direct result. Matching that sort of reliability at the back would be advantageous.
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