BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 5th January 2024
(Photo:@Homesoffootball)
2023 wasn’t a bad year for the Scottish Football International team and for the upcoming Euros, “In Steve We Absolutely Trust”, whatever happens.
Looking back, there were loads of good and memorable games across the year but the one I remember and enjoyed the most was the Darvel v Aberdeen match last January.
After less than a minute you could see the Ayrshire side were maybe the ‘part timers against the big boys’, but they were no mugs and the flow of the game, Darvel’s comfort on the ball and support for each other in a practiced set-up, suggested it was not going to be a pushover.
It wasn’t.
I’ve always liked the cup because it allowed the minnows like my team Inverness Caley to take the field with Scottish League sides.
Even like our home gubbing from a First Division team, Third Lanark who won 5-1 at Telford Street, (5 lucky breakaways), and I also remember Caley winning at the comparative ‘giants’ who were Stranraer in a midweek early afternoon tie after a previous Saturday home draw.
Or Ross County being defeated by Rangers 0-2 in 1966 on an unplayable mid-week afternoon, mud-bath pitch where the recently deceased ‘Tucker’ Thomson of County was the best player on the park.
And tomorrow, it will be 45 years ago to the day, Inverness Thistle’s second round home tie was postponed because of the ‘78-‘79 Freeze up.
No big deal I hear you think.
But it was rescheduled and then postponed another 29 times.
Local folklore up there still talks about the lucky local ref who first bought a colour telly and then a family holiday in Majorca after his well-paid, frequent, SFA-funded visits to an unchanging, rutted and frozen Jags Park.
He drove up Kingsmills Road each day, parked beside the ‘Street to Stand’ sign, changed, bounced a ball near the centre line, declared the pitch unplayable each time and smiled out loud as he watched his ‘ref-meter’ running.
The game was eventually played on February 22nd and Falkirk won 4-0 with what I’ve been informed were 2 lucky breakaways, and two blatant offside goals none of which my pal Dave, who was man of the match, was responsible for.
This year’s equivalent round is still 2 weeks away and already two cracking ties are lined up for free to air TV.
Homeless Clyde, (a story or three in that alone) take on Aberdeen at Hamilton’s New Douglas Park on Friday at 19.45 and its live on the BBC Scotland Channel.
And on Saturday my old team, Spartans, have a home draw against Hearts, live nationally across the UK, on BBC 1 at 12.15pm.
For some reason there is no Monday or even Tuesday night TV fixtures this year and I think that’s a shame.
If you have an Amazon Firestick, or less likely, an expensive subscription to a failing Scandi Sports Channel, Dumbarton v Rangers on Saturday at 17.30 and Celtic v Buckie Thistle on Sunday at 16.00 are also live.
I smiled this week when Buckie optimistically told Celtic that they, Buckie, wanted to wear the green and white hooped shirts that is also their home strip.
I could see in my mind’s eye 20 hooped shirts in a constant melee.
Maybe both teams wearing the same strips on the same pitch is Buckie’s best shot at glory?
I can’t speak for the Scandi channel’s live ties, but whoever at the SFA did the deal with the BBC for the 2 picked out of the 16 games deserves a little credit because there is a minnow in both ties and the TV revenues will make a real difference.
I personally would prefer to see all cup revenues pooled for the good of all but that’s just me and I know Clyde, Spartans Dumbarton and Buckie will welcome their un-budgeted windfalls.
That’s the magic of the cup.
The same cup that baled out ICT last year from a deep financial black hole.
I also caught the first English FA game last night between Palace and Everton and being kind can say it was soporific.
Not enough though to see the disgrace that in Engerland out of 32 ties only 10 will kick off at 3pm on Saturday.
And I may be wrong but 9 or 10 of the other matches will be also available on a mix of channels from now till Monday and some of them will even hurt our clubs up here by keeping fans at home.
The broadcasting world has changed since the days when Ernie Walker or Willie Allan had absolute power over what was broadcast North of the Wall.
I prefer where we are now but can see the English FA bonanza this week has the potential to combine with our weather and shave our attendances.
Playing football in summer might help.
In our last SFSA research only 25.4% of Scottish fans were against summer football.
Especially for the lower leagues.
Now that would be a good New Year’s Resolution for someone to look at and scope out progressively.
This Week’s Sting
1. A Penalty and an Intimidating Power Play?
World records come and go in Scottish football.
Most of us lived through a long period of time where the only cup round that our two Glasgow giants could ever be allowed to meet in was the final and stories of how this happened, or rather was facilitated, are legion.
The odds were said to be mathematically impossible but it still happened year after year till some ‘idiot’ at Tennents the sponsor broke the spell on a live TV draw!
Likewise, refs giving penalties against the home team playing in Govan in anything other than European competitions was as statistically rare as 29th February birthdays in non-leap years.
As a neutral, I thoroughly enjoyed the match between the two Glasgow giants last week from afar and thought that Rangers have indeed closed the gulf.
However the season plays out I don’t see a big gap developing between the two like before, although the distance between them and third placed Hearts, or whoever, is deeply unhealthy for all aspects of Scottish football.
I do however think the subsequent semi-public briefings, in the media against the SFA, the referees and VAR process playing out does nobody any favours.
But I’m a greybeard who can see beyond the chatter and that the core element and driver here is power and also the power to intimidate.
It is all about self-importance, and Orwell was bang on the money when he developed the storyline that some pigs thought they were more equal than others and therefore deserved more power and the benefits , not just in the present, but also extra power and benefits into the future.
So was it a hand ball?
I don’t know.
(I genuinely don’t really understand the law as it stands any better than the rest of us).
If it was, would a penalty have been given after any VAR review?
No according to my assistant referee friend, a Rangers supporter for what it is worth.
He said any such review would then have picked up an earlier offside.
But OK, we are talking about football and stuff happens and we’ll never all agree about anything all the time.
Reading the press since, I’ve heard “There was then a quickly organised, and not normal, follow-on private meeting between Crawford Allan head of refereeing at SFA and representatives of Rangers.
The kind of meeting not available to clubs and no minutes or agenda is available to the fans or indeed the other SFA members.
But we’ve since been told, the incident and the audio was reviewed and the actual meeting was said to be amicable and constructive. The Rangers representatives were told that Willie Collum was head of VAR for the game and that “VAR did not deem that the referee had made a clear and obvious error”.
After the meeting I’ve since read through various sources that Rangers then came out publicly though their chosen channels announcing openly that they requested that Willie Collum should not be involved in any future Rangers games.
(I’ve been told it is because he was a boyhood Celtic fan, I don’t know Willie and don’t know if that is true or not).
If the club’s move to ‘ban him’ is indeed true then it is an incendiary and anger inducing statement that is more at home in Turkey where Club Presidents seem to think the refs are there to be punched on the nose”.
Maybe Rangers want to punch Willie on the nose too in full view?
Chairman John Bennet and John Bennet’s Rangers are a world away from, and better than that.
I don’t pretend to know the politics at play inside Rangers or between Rangers and the SFA or the whos and the whys but in the cold light of hindsight it was maybe a handball, maybe not.
A decision was made.
One team didn’t like it.
That’s football.
VAR didn’t come into play but if it had we have now been told it would have picked up the offside.
I referred above to the Orwellian concept of ‘pigs thinking they are more equal than the other animals’ and I surmise deep down that that is what this is all about.
I hope the SFA and their referees repel all such approaches.
I hope the SFA make the point that nobody in Scottish Football has an enhanced ‘Napoleon-style’ right to more than others.
And being an optimist, maybe good can come from this all?
I know for a fact that fans would like more transparency right through our refereeing process and processes and will shortly share some SFSA research that suggests fans want more fairness and openness, across the board.
First I welcome James Dornan’s parallel motion lodged January 5th in Holyrood.
The motion reads:
“That the Parliament supports recent reported moves by Glasgow Rangers FC to get the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to release the conversations by video assistant referee (VAR) officials during the recent game against Celtic FC; recognises what it sees as the longstanding culture of secrecy that exists within the ruling hierarchy of Scottish football; urges the SFA to ensure that all VAR decisions, and any other decisions requested by a club involved, are made publicly available on such a request, and believes that, if the SFA and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) continue with what it considers is their ongoing culture of secrecy, then there is a need to consider an independent regulator for football, similar to the plans reportedly due to be introduced into the UK Parliament, but one which would be unique to the circumstances of Scottish football.”
Now, What Fans Tell Us They Think and Want
Fans actually believe Rangers get the benefit of the doubt in most decisions and always have.
When pushed, the more knowledgeable fans think it is to do with both the size and noise of the crowd, and also one particular and dominant referee association.
Celtic are seen as a close second in getting the calls especially at home where Celtic Park’s intimidation is regularly rewarding.
Tight, noisy grounds like Tynecastle when full, help sway decisions too.
Two Specific Fan Insights About Referee Policy at the SFA
(From our last fan mega survey).
Should referees be required to disclose their supported team like in England? (where they are then barred from officiating their own club)
Yes 84.6%
No 10.4%
Unsure 5%
Should referees be allowed to speak publicly after matches?
Yes 91.2%
No 3.9%
Unsure 4.8%
Scottish football is not alone across the world in that it fails to appreciate its referees.
Player dissent is ugly, should be controlled and maybe even like in rugby only allowable as a discussion via the team captain.
Ian Maxwell could raise that at the next IFAB in Glasgow in March?
I would be for that, Ian.
But an old ugly and recurring issue is sometimes our big clubs really think they are more important than the clubs they play week in and week out and indeed the game itself and forget that we’re all in it together.
Transparency is good.
Bullying, intimidation and Orwellian concept developments are not.
That’s it for this week.
Feedback input and wee stories welcome as always.
andrew@scottishfsa.org
New Year New Album
Until a week ago I’d never heard of this red-dirt, country band from Austin Texas but they were playing it in an outdoor restaurant and I had to ask.
I now know that half of it was recorded outdoors in the Texas desert and half in a Texas ghost town.
I like both.
Posted in: Andy’s Sting in the Tale, Latest News
