THEY are supposed to be the custodians of the rules of the game who smooth over any disputes on the football field.
But now referees have become the centre of a row of their own on the Western Isles after refusing to officiate at matches involving one particular club, putting a local cup final in jeopardy.
The row broke out after a match official referee was hospitalised when he was attacked by a player from Lochs FC, a team based on the east coast of the island of Lewis.
Although the assault - which the man admitted at Stornoway Sheriff Court - did not occur during a match, it has led to bad feeling among the footballing community and now all referees have taken an individual decision to turn their backs on matches involving Lochs.
This is bad news for this year's Eilean an Fhraoich Cup, a fiercely-contested fixture which settles the inter-district competition in Lewis and Harris, and should have been played between the Lochs and Westside FC tonight.
But the referees are adamant they will not get involved until the player, who still turns out for Lochs, is dropped.
Referee Hugh Dallas was one official who saw football at the sharp end
An island source said: "This has been bubbling away for a few weeks. There's no official organisation of referees on the islands, and under the rules they can't make a group decision to refuse to officiate at matches.
"But as individuals, they are allowed to say which games they will and won't cover, and that's what's happening here.
"No-one's seen anything like this before and it's anyone's guess when these matches will be played, if at all. It's unprecedented."
The row stems from a Saturday night incident two weekends ago when an off-duty referee was injured after he was attacked by an islander who is also a Lochs FC player.
The footballer, believed to be in his twenties, was arrested and kept in the police cells until the following Monday morning, when he appeared from custody at before a sheriff. and was fined £500 after admitting the offence.
However, the matter did not end there and the day after the court appearance, the Lewis and Harris Football Association (LHFA) received a written account of the incident from the referee in question.
While they escalated the case up to the Scottish Amateur Football Association (SAFA), the row rumbled on with Lochs FC carrying out their own investigation.
But the dispute exploded again when the club announced it considered the matter closed, saying it “does not intend to take any action against the player.”
A Lochs FC statement added: “We have received representation from him indicating that the matter was in no way related to football but completely personal and they now believe that matter concluded as it has been dealt with by Police Scotland.”
The referees the took the decision to boycott the club's matches, telling the LHFA: “To clarify, each individual referee is currently unavailable for Lochs FC games until the matter is resolved.”
Lochs FC held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to reassess the situation regarding their player - but voted against any further action.
They also asked for a meeting with the LHFA and a referees’ representative to clear the air and seek clarification about several issues relating to the case.
But this offer has not been taken up and it is understood the referee has quit the game due to the incident.
The Scottish Amateur Football Association (SAFA) has now been brought in and is deliberating over the best way to deal with the stalemate.
However, they have been unable to find a way out of the impasse, and are due to hold a meeting this week to establish a way forward.
An LHFA statement said: “The Association contacted the referees’ representative and the referees’ decision was not to attend such a meeting until they hear what the SAFA decide.
"The case will be heard by the SAFA’s Executive & Finance Committee to make the following decision
"It appears that the SAFA’s national disciplinary committee only deal with on the field offences so it will not be hearing this case.”
But to further muddy the waters, the SAFA was due to meet yesterday to consider if a SAFA sub-committee can deal with the matter or if they leave it up to the island association to sort it out.
Yesterday, A spokesman for the governing body said that any decision would not be made public, but would be relayed to the parties involved.
He added: "There's a matter been forwarded from the league to ourselves which will be discussed by the committee before a decision is made.
"It will be up to the parties involved if they wish to make the results of that decision known."
In the meantime, The Eilean an Fhraoich Cup final and the Lochs v Carloway fixture remain postponed until further notice.
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