DOUGLAS Ross has said he would give up football refereeing if he became First Minister as he wouldn’t want to add politics to an already “hostile and difficult environment” at games.
Mr Ross, who has kept up his ssecond job throughout his political career, said security concerns meant he would have to “hang up his boots” if he succeeded in his goal of replacing Nicola Sturgeon at Bute House.
However he said he would keep running the line at domestic and international matches as the new Scottish Tory leader, despite inevitably bringing more political baggage onto the pitch.
Speaking to the media after meeting Chancellor Rishi Sunak near Glasgow, the Moray MP said: “I’ve made it clear I want to continue refereeing, however that is something I plan to do as leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
“I can officially announce that if I am elected First Minister of Scotland - much to the great delight of football fans across Scotland, and this may help me get to that ultimate office - then I would give up refereeing if I was First Minister.”
He went on: “There is in my view enough pressure on the clubs, the match commanders, police etc, to ensure everything is done as safely as possible within our stadiums,
“I think an added element of potentially one of the match officials being the First Minister of Scotland does add unnecessary strain to an already sometimes hostile and difficult environment.
“I think it would make sense, at that stage, for me to hang up my boots and continue to support Scottish football.”
The 37-year-old added: “I would still be a strong advocate for Scottish refereeing. But the time would be for someone younger to come in and take my place.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel