JOHN Fleming, the SFA's head of refereeing operations, has urged his paymasters not to give up on the idea of making Scotland's elite referees full-time. While referees in England aren't always universally popular either, Fleming feels that allowing Scotland's top match officials to devote their entire working lives to their chosen profession in the manner top flight officials do south of the border would pay dividends. The only problem is that the likes of Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson, who will represent England at Euro 2016 this fortnight, can command a salary in the region of £100,000 a year and similar sums may be required to persuade Scotland's top match officials to forego lucrative day jobs in the education or legal sectors.
"My view is that individuals in refereeing would benefit if they were full time," said Fleming. "If there was a situation where you can devote the full amount of your time to refereeing then it can only enhance you as an individual and also your performance on the park.
"Referees are currently not employed by the SFA, so it is just a hobby to them," he added. "The case in point would be a midweek game for example, where the referee would be at his place of work, then have to leave there to get to a game. If he was full time he would be there early, resting and getting good preparation. It would help the referee and allow them to get more coaching, not to mention educating in schools, academies, and informing the rest of the game.
"The finances [to do this] would be difficult just now but at the end of the day we keep working away at the SFA and if the opportunity arises where we could make several of the referees full time then I think we should take it. It is not the situation right now but there is nothing to say we shouldn't still be working towards it."
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