Ian Maxwell took a step back in time yesterday, only to find one of Scottish football's favourite topics followed him all the way to 1872.

It's been 150 years since Scotland met England in the world's first ever international fixture, and it feels a fairly safe bet we'll still be talking about referees after the next 150 come and go. The Scottish FA chief executive just hopes we might start cutting them some slack.

Maxwell was in the north of Glasgow to commemorate the anniversary of a pivotal moment in the game's history - and to throw his weight behind much maligned officials after a predictably bumpy beginning to the Premiership's VAR era. The introduction of video technology has placed referees under a level of scrutiny Maxwell feels is excessive.

“I think we have to be careful in terms of the match officials," he said. "They are under immense pressure and the more pressure you heap on anyone in any walk of life the less likely they are to perform. Managers wouldn’t put players under undue pressure. Match officials do feel it with the scrutiny they are under. From an association perspective we want to protect them, we want them to get as many decisions right as they can so they don’t need VAR.

"But as long as there is the media hype and everything being analysed to within an inch of its life you’re going to put match officials under pressure that they don’t need to be under.”

Contentious calls and a feeling that some decisions are simply taking too long to be reviewed have provoked some typically emotive reactions from Premiership managers. But while Maxwell gets why there's been frustration, he believes we could all do with taking a breather.

"I understand why it happens, I understand everyone wants everything to be right," he said. "But I think you need to have a bit of balance and perspective about it. No one is more disappointed than a referee when a decision is not made correctly than a referee.

"If you speak to the guys they will tell you. It’s not as if they finish the game, go home and finish their dinner and not think about it. It is the same as players or you guys – if you write something that is not as good on reflection, it gets to you.

"In the initial stages we expected it to be under scrutiny, but I think we need everyone to take a step back and understand that, actually, it is working. The World Cup is an example of that – we have seen with a lot decisions, whether it is handball or red cards, that if they happened in Scotland there would be a lot more focus on them.

"England have had VAR for god knows how long and they are still making mistakes. These things happen across the game, it is not a Scotland specific problem. We are just going through the process because it has been high profile and recently implemented, we are dealing with that."

But that's not to say, Maxwell stresses, that the phone will be unplugged at Hampden every Monday morning.

"It is not a problem clubs picking up the phone and asking a question," he insisted. "Actually, if we had to release a list of every club on Monday morning that has phoned to have a conversation about a decision, there would not be many clubs not on it."

The SFA seemingly have questions of their own in the wake of the Scottish Government launching a public consultation over a potential crackdown on alcohol advertising, warning of potentially "grave" consequences for revenue streams in Scottish football. Maxwell himself says he's seen no evidence banning ads at football grounds will cut consumption.

"It is about unintended consequences. I can understand why there is a desire to look at alcohol habits in Scotland. I don’t think that stopping advertising at football matches is the best way to do that. I think there is a more productive way of using football and the impact it has on communities to educate individuals in terms of alcohol awareness.

‘We talk about the power of football within our strategic plan. How do we use the good that football can do to help drive those government initiatives and help make a healthier, happier Scotland?

"I know that’s a big statement but we want to do that as much as the government does. I’ve not seen the evidence that says advertising at sporting events has a significant impact on the amount of alcohol sales that occur."

Wednesday's tribute to past glories took place shortly before the final round of Qatar 2022 group fixtures continued without Scotland. An Australia team packed with SPFL players were among those to book a place in the last 16, and Maxwell can't escape the feeling that Steve Clarke and his players should've been there.

"It’s disappointing not being there," he admitted. "The players and manager in particular will be sitting watching it and thinking what could have been.

"But hopefully that spurs them on to get to Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026."

One man desperate to be there is Craig Gordon. The Scotland number one joined local schoolchildren in a recreating the 1872 game, but you didn't need to ask the 39-year-old where he'd rather have been.

"I haven't watched many games," he confessed. "It makes you want to qualify for the next one even more and that's what we'll look to do. It's the one thing big thing I still need to do and it's what motivates me every single day. That's the plan.

"I still need to work hard to achieve that and we'll give it another go. We've got the game against England in September to look forward to and also the qualifiers start in March, then again in June, so we have a lot to look forward to and we have to put the rest behind us.

"We had a grerat Nations League campaign so we're in a good place and we're ready to go for the next one and confident with the performances we've put in."

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