OFFSET YOUR WORLD CUP TRAVEL WITH GREENERTRAVEL
Date: 16th June 2025
Over the last 18 months, the SFSA has championed our referees. Unsurprisingly, we’ve had quite a lot of flak for this on social media. However, we’re not going to stop. In fact, quite the opposite. Over the course of the next 12 months, we’re going to be working to support the SFA’s Refereeing Associations as they seek new people to join their ranks.
Why are we doing this? Quite simple really. Without a referee we have no game. Reports from grassroots football of matches having to be called off because there are not enough refs are heartbreaking. It’s there that this really matters, because it’s in the grassroots, amateurs and Juniors that referees learn their trade. The best then come through the ranks to the Senior game.
Having met with the SFA’s Head of Refereeing, Willie Collum, on a number of occasions recently, I can tell you that I have rarely met someone so passionate about football – and about improving the quality of refereeing in this country. He’s also someone who acknowledges referees make mistakes and that they need to be honest about them. Moreover, it’s clear from our conversations, that more and better technology is being developed for use in the next few years. One of my personal bugbears is the way SARs (Specialist Assistant Referees, i.e. linesmen/women) have changed the way they operate in the VAR-run world of the Premiership and, especially, the (sometimes too long) wait after which we find out if a player’s toenail is offside. The technology that will mean that offsides are recognised instantly by cameras and a message relayed to whoever is on the line will change all that – and we are told that it will be trialled soon (not in Scotland), with a view to rolling it out in the next few years. There is obviously a cost implication for Scottish clubs, but the SFSA view is that we would welcome this being introduced here as soon as is practically (and financially) possible.
We’re now heading into the holiday season. Let me tell you a story, taken from a book on Scottish Refereeing and its history, about how one our most successful officials of recent(ish) years got involved in refereeing as a result of being on a lads’ holiday. Hopefully, it will inspire a few of our members and others to investigate the refereeing courses that will start again in each of the 12 regions of the country covered by our Refereeing Associations.
“Willie Conquer, the boy from Bingham in Edinburgh, was one of the very best SARs and, arguably, one of the biggest personalities in the refereeing profession during his 20 years in the game. Like many other officials, his path to the FIFA list began with his love of playing football. However, the reason he then progressed to become a referee was as a result of a bet…
“I was a left back, playing amateur football in Edinburgh at decent level and I was even invited for trials with Bonnyrigg Rose. I went to training with them, but I could see that, in all honesty, I wasn’t good enough. I was working at John Lewis at that time and we had a Sunday team. Unfortunately, I got a bad injury – I did my ligaments – and was out for two years. Then, one evening in 1996 I was at a Race Night at the Maybury Hotel in Edinburgh with two of my mates. As usual, the last race was an auction and we got horse No. 4 for £20. To cut a long story short, it won and we got £220 between the three of us, so we went on the town. Later, we met a couple of referees who did amateur games and they were asking after me, wondering why they hadn’t seen me playing. After I explained, one of them said, ‘why don’t you take up refereeing?’ My mates were ****ing themselves laughing at the prospect of me becoming a referee as I was never the most generous towards the officials when I was playing. We were due to go to Ibiza that summer on a lads’ holiday and they said ‘if you take this seriously, and pass the course we’ll buy all the drinks in Ibiza.’ That struck me as a decent bet…
“Anyway, I got 97% in the mock exam and 98% in the actual exam, so I had a good time in Ibiza! However, because of my work I didn’t do many Saturday but then my role changed and I got my first lucky break, refereeing an Under-19 Cup quarter final between Hutchie Vale and Buckhind (from Buckhaven). There was an incident where the centre half and centre forward both challenged for the ball but knocked each other out cold. I wanted to abandon the match, but an ambulance came for the lads and the clubs said they wanted to continue. Buckhind eventually went on to win on penalties and after the game I asked the clubs’ secretaries to let me know how the boys were. I was doing an Under-14 game the next day and the Secretary of the Fife Association said they were impressed by how I’d handled the previous game and asked if I’d like to do some league matches. I was quite old for a referee for this level (Under-16) as I was nearly 30, but that meant that I wasn’t so easily intimidated as some of the younger refs who tend to do these matches. Also, being older – and essentially not giving a flying **** if someone swore at me – I got more respect. Then I got a call from Don McVicar, who was the Head of Referee Development at the SFA. Don told me that a number of people had been in touch with him about how I’d handled the Hutchie Vale vs Buckhind game and two weeks later I was doing Under-21 games in Fife with two Observers. My first one was a bit traumatic: I abandoned it after seven minutes because there was a 22-man battle going on in the middle of the pitch.
“The grades for referees were different then, but I was a Category 4 ref at this point and wanted to get on the Senior list. In the event, I only did a few games at Under-21 level before I was offered the first of the three Junior games that referees in Fife were usually given to see if they could take a step up. I did one only – it was between Tulliallan and Newburgh – and then I became a Category 3. I thought I’d get promoted again but when Douglas Downie (who was Association Manager of the Fife Referees’ Association) offered me a move up to Category 2, I sat down with him and said, because of my age, I’d only get a couple of seasons at Category 1 and that by the time I’d done the lower leagues in the Senior game I would be lucky to get many, if any, Premier matches. They were introducing Specialist Assistant Referees at this time and I thought I’d have a better chance of making it to the top flight in that role. Douglas wasn’t happy and the SFA referee supervisor George Smith called and gave me a dressing down, telling me that although he understood what I was doing he was really disappointed and thought I had a cracking career ahead of me. His view was that you should always try and referee at the highest level. Although he wasn’t very pleased then, subsequently, I got on really well with George, even being on first-name terms, which didn’t apply to everyone in the refereeing world, so it was a real compliment.”
“Having decided to go down the Specialist Assistant Route, Willie then partnered with his namesake, Willie Collum and, on the other touchline, Martin Cryans. It was a smart move. Being part of a high-profile group meant that Willie got to do the big matches that he wanted, not just in Scotland but all over the world…”
If you’d like to follow Willie into refereeing, then here is where you will find all the information you need, plus the contacts for whichever part of Scotland you live in…
https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish-fa/referees/become-a-referee/
Alastair Blair, Director of Operations, SFSA
Posted in: Latest News
Tags: Refereeing, Scottish football