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Yes, referees support teams (get over it)

Date: 9th March 2024

Here are another couple of great stories from our Ops’ Director’s book on Scottish referees. They shine a light on the thorny issue of which teams referees support.  It would be staggering if they didn’t, but that doesn’t stop some fans from constructing conspiracy theories based on what they believe is an inbuilt bias that comes from following the ‘wrong’ team. Incidentally, while Alastair tells me that way back in the day there was anecdotal evidence of some officials refereeing in a partisan manner, he found absolutely no indication of it from any of the many officials he interviewed from the last few decades. They, and the current officials working today, are perfectly capable of strongly supporting a team and refereeing their games without any bias or favouritism.  For example…

Willie Conquer is a Hearts’ fan.  He was also a SAR (Special Assistant Referee, better known to you and I as a linesman), who worked with Willie Collum, along with Martin Cryans who was the other SAR in the team.  Being part of a high-profile group meant that they got to do many big matches, not just in Scotland but all over the world.  It also meant that he was introduced to some of the big characters in Scottish football…

“I remember the 2013 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Hibs when we met with the team captains beforehand to discuss at what end penalties would be taken in the event of the game being drawn. In reality, the police usually decide this, but you have to go through the formality of consulting the teams. Willie Collum was going through the protocol but Broony (Scott Brown) stomped off, saying ‘this is a ****ing waste of time.’ Willie wasn’t having this and called Broony back, telling him he was being disrespectful.  ‘No, it’s you that’s being disrespectful,’ said Scott, ‘telling us that the game might go to penalties. There’s no way it’s going to ****ing penalties: we’re going to pump them.’  They did too…

“There were some big personalities in those days.  Probably my favourites were Billy Brown and Jim Jeffries at Hearts.  It’s fairly well known that I’m a Jambo, and I remember during one match at Tynecastle I gave an offside decision against Hearts and Jim shouted to me, ‘you’re ****king meant to be one of us.’” 

It’s fair to say that Willie liked officiating in Edinburgh.

“For me, there is nothing like the Edinburgh derby. I was born in the council estate that is Bingham. It’s famously Hibs territory and my family was split between the Hibs and the Hearts. I was due to be taken to a Hibs vs St Mirren game, but it was called off, so we went to Tynecastle instead.  That was the start of my love affair with the Jambos… Strangely, quite a lot of fans still don’t know who I support.  When I go to Easter Road, there are lots of guys in the crowd that I was at school with, so they all give me the ‘you Jambo ******d’ stuff.  But when I’m at Tynecastle, there are Hearts fans who call me a ‘Bingham ******d,’ assuming I’m a Hibee.  How wrong they are!”

If this sounds intriguing, fun and worth investigating further, then we’re sure you’ll be warmly received by your local Association.  Although most of the 12 Regional Refereeing Associations have already started their first tranche of courses for this year, a few (Ayrshire and also Moray and Banff we believe) have courses either just about to start or having just begun.  If you want to find out more, you can find details of the local Association at this link.

Stuart Murphy, CEO, SFSA

 


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