What is going on By Donald C Stewart

Date: 21st May 2026

What is going on

By Donald C Stewart

When I was a lecturer at college, I had a colleague who had been a professional referee in the Scottish game. The stories he told of lower league football were enlightening because I never realised just exactly how much pressure, even in an amateur Sunday afternoon game, referees felt under. He spoke of threats, both physical and verbal, being hurled at him and on one occasion having to worry about getting to his car to get home.

I often talk, with a degree of pride as an Ayrshire man, of the Auchinleck Talbot-Cumnock game as one, where I was told that the referee is taken the night before to a hotel where the police then escort him the say afterwards to the game.

It is, also, as far as I am aware, the only game stopped with a pitch invasion by squad cars.

Both of these stories may well be apocryphal and folklore, but they are worthy of a background note to the fact that Scottish football has always had passion. It has always however carried a degree of threat.

Following the scenes at the last Old Firm, the scenes at the end of the Celtic/Hearts game, the reports of disorder in Glasgow afterwards and the story of John Beaton, the man in the middle who gave the controversial, penalty to Celtic in their 2-1 win against Motherwell, having been locked behind his home door because of threats made against him, my pride turns to worry.

Of course it’s worrying, but there is another worry – the SFA have been given the opportunity to avoid some of their responsibility. Let’s just take the threats to referees. When the SFA can scream, bawl and shout about a hysterical media narrative, it is missing the point.

Let’s be fair though, there is dissension in the world of media over refereeing.

Mainstream media discuss narratives, bring issues to the fore but online there are entirely different levels of rage. The SFA have sent out a press release pinpointing irresponsible knee-jerk post-match comments, post-match interviews with upset managers and players, comments from pundits and the views and opinions of close observers of the game – many of whom played it.

If you go back several decades, you’ll hear a familiar phrase which used to capture most of those verbal phenomena – a “siege mentality”. Sir Alex Ferguson created it at Aberdeen where he told his players that when they went down to Glasgow, everybody was against them.

Of course, at the time, there was no social media, so no 19-year-old keyboard warrior (allegedly) leaking details of a referee’s home life, if that is what they have done, and then watch people act upon it. That young man may end up carrying the responsibility of us all on their shoulders.

But abuse has been with us, outside of the internet, for far too many years.

Ask Neil Lennon what it’s like to have to face that side of football. He can tell you in many different ways just exactly what he faced when he was playing for and managing Celtic Football Club.

But this is not just a societal problem. It is also a footballing problem.

Derek McInnes’ response to what happened at Fir Park is understandable. Stakes are high, but there’s another issue at play here.

Former referee Bobby Madden, who by the way, the SFA also had a go at former match officials who have been critical of their former colleagues, hit the nail on the head over what has been going on.

There are simply not enough referees.

But how can you recruit referees when this type of headline hits the newspapers? Or on websites?

There’s been a rise on people taking their opinions form online into real life. Reviewers, especially popular food bloggers are being targeted. The blurring of lines between realty and online entitlement is being blurred.

I recognise that you will always get the trolls, idiots, bar room brawlers who are now keyboard warriors that attempt to start a fight, often in their own empty room, whilst counting their teeth in the mirror. Once they get past one, perhaps their intelligence will increase.

You should not shut down debate but give it a proper forum for it to be aired, listened to and debated.

From my own perspective, VAR criticism is legitimate, and criticism of officialdom is legitimate.

I believe that VAR is ruining the event of football, and the debate should be about how we either improve VAR or we ditch it. We should be working out collectively how we recruit referees and protect them, and about prosecuting people who make physical threats.

This is not an issue for the SFA.

This is an issue for the law.

The law should step in because football is incapable of policing itself. It has shown that time and time again. It’s why I believe in strict liability.

We all live in a society.

You are responsible for your behaviour, and if your behaviour falls below the standards expected, you should be punished by the law of the land not the blazers in Hampden.

The SFA are not a court.

We need a sensible and sensitive public debate. Without it we are condemned to repeat this annually.

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Tags: Celtic, oor Donald, Rangers, Scottish fans