Embarrassing, against the rules and shameful

Chief Sports Writer

Wednesday 13 April 2011

THERE are moments when the Scottish Football Association just takes the breath away.

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hugh macdonald

There was the one when a leading office-bearer described Celtic complaints as “tiresome” when cases were under consideration. Two “tiresome” complaints subsequently resulted in victory for Celtic, with Neil Lennon’s first ban for an incident at Tynecastle being deemed excessive by an independent hearing. His second ban was against the association’s rules.

When a QC pointed this out, the SFA took the huff, complaining of having to spend money on their QC to defend the indefensible. A simple keek at the rule book might have saved them, and our national game, money.Then we had the referee who gave Celtic a penalty, then rescinded it. Then lied to the match observer and to Neil Lennon. He was given a warning by an SFA committee before he had to be prised from his job.Then there was the referee who gave Rangers a penalty in an Old Firm match while looking the other way. Then last night there was the official who, from 10 yards, watched as Michael Duberry, presumably believing he had been fouled, used both hands to control the ball on the ground. No penalty.There have been other major instances of downright incompetence but all of the above may charitably ascribed to “the pressure of the game” by sympathisers. After watching another referee give Rangers a penalty in a cup final then change his mind and book a player for diving without recourse to further evidence, my patience is exhausted. This referee – Craig Thomson –incidentally gave Celtic a penalty in an Old Firm game; unfortunately this occurred 24 hours after the final whistle.The decisions by the disciplinary committee of the SFA yesterday, though, are the high point of the season in terms of absurdity. They are the Monty Python sketch in the comedy that this nation’s football has become. They also fly in the face of the policy to support referees. Whatever one’s view on yesterday’s deliberations, it was not a show of support for Calum Murray. One must wait for the ballot today when the referees, presumably enraged at the leniency of the sentences, take to the picket line. After all, Madjid Bougherra manhandled one of their members as he was about to book him. And then he did it again. Bougherra was fined and told not to do it again. Presumably, the naughty step was being used.Another Rangers player, El-Hadji Diouf, bumped into the Celtic physio, had a slanging match with Lennon, who was banned for his behaviour, then would not leave the field when advised to do so by the referee. He then ignored the intervention of a police officer and threw his jersey into the crowd. He was warned and fined.Lennon, who has served a ban for his part in incidents at Tynecastle and Celtic Park, was on the touchline last night. He watched as Iain Brines comically missed a penalty so obvious that the Celtic manager had to be forced into humour. “He just used the two hands,” he said of Duberry’s intervention.He was strictly serious when addressing the sentences imposed on two Rangers players for, as the charges had it, misconduct of a significantly serious nature and the clearing of his counterpart Ally McCoist for their confrontation.“You have to write it. I can’t comment about a lot of things these days,” said Lennon. “You have got to see it for what it is. If you have any media integrity, you will call it as it is.”It is embarrassing, contrary to the interests of the game and to the rule of match officials, and shameful.

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Embarrassing, against the rules and shameful

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