The head of Dallas is not enough
It is a start though
By now, you’ve probably all digested the contents of the Sunday Mail along with your Sunday breakfast and if you are Mr Dallas from Bonkle, it’s not pleasant reading. Being head of any organisation is a trying task for anyone and concepts like truth and integrity are fairly important. However, being in charge of people who have to adjudicate and make decisions, well, being seen to have morals should be mandatory.
Steven Craven has lifted the lid on the ugly reign of Hugh Dallas at the SFA and it is apparent that he has to go. Craven did throw in some positives of the Dallas era, so it’s not a complete hatchet job but the overall view is one that is simply untenable. It may not happen immediately but if Hugh Dallas remains in charge of the referees, we’d be as well packing up the game and calling it a day.
Presiding over referees who think it is okay to lie to a football manager, a manager whose job is on the line is bad enough but THEN to persist with the lie when the truth has been presented to them is just a ridiculous situation to be in. At best, it shows the arrogance of Dallas, a man who would never shy away from the limelight. A man who would ensure the ball was at his feet or in his hand when he blew the final-whistle on televised games…all so he could have the camera on him.
This is the sort of man that that puts himself above right and wrong…and therefore, not the sort of man who should be in charge of anything…let alone a group of referees.
The head of Dallas shouldn’t be seen as the victory though, it must be used to kick open the door to changing the way the refs are run with transparency being the key factor. There will never be a better time for the SFA to revitalise and even save the art of refereeing in this country.
Rip up the points system of bookings and replace it with the simplified English model
Have referees declare what team they support, again, similar to the English model
Make public the procedures for the video review panel
Create a proper communications channel for officials to explain their decisions
The SFA should not get to mark the performance of referees – another body should do that
The review system needs to be overhauled with realistic scores and measures
And let’s ditch these committees – bowling club blazer wearers have no business running a football organisation and they are hugely at fault for their role in the culture of the SFA.
Well, it looks as though a change may be coming but if the SFA don’t complete the job, they should never be forgiven.
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no point asking refs in scotland to name their team, they will only lie, certain ones anyway
According to the BBC website, people at the SFA question Steven Craven’s account of events and are taking legal advice. We’ll see….
legal advice can be given to those needing defence as well as prosecution.
It’s a standard response to make in these situations – if the SFA believe Craven is telling lies….they should take it all the way…if the lies are being told by the SFA, this stance will slide away.
As you say George, we’ll see…think theres a lot of talking left in this one.
I agree with all your recommendations apart from the one about what team the referee supports.
In our wee warped world, this would lead to more problems than it solves. I would suggest that most ref’s are more supporters of the game itself as opposed to a fan of a particular club.
It is the weakest of all the points and therefore the one that is most likely to get pounced upon – no issues with that.
It works well in England and it may also help fans see refs as football fans as opposed to being so apart.
Then again, how many St Mirren or Partick Thistle fans would there be?
Lets just say that point is certainly not the deal-breaker…in negotiations, it would be the one that can be compromised out!!
Idont think refs should name the team they support if you cant referee a game honestly your not good enough to be a ref end of story.
It seems you’ve conveiently forgotten that the ref actually got the decision right in the Dundee Utd v Celtic game, isn’t that the only thing that matters? If clubs like Celtic and Hearts continue in this vain then we’ll have no officials left and thus no game to watch. Every club, big and small gets decisions awarded against them week in week out, (see last tuesdya in the 92nd minute for my team) it’s part of the game for us all. What exactly do Celtic and Hearts hope to achieve here? It’s pathetic and the administrators at both clubs should just grow up and concentrate on trying to tidy up the mess they are presiding over at their respective clubs.
The referee didn’t get the decision right, Celtic should have got a penalty in the same move for the tackle on Hooper by Kenneth. At the time it looked like the ref had given advantage to Hooper.
When there was no advantage he blew his whistle and gave the penalty to Celtic. Once he changed his mind after being barracked by the United players, he decided to give a drop ball but only let United players contest it. The game had been stopped while Celtic had the ball in the United box, where is the fairness in that.
The game was littered by poor refereeing decisions but this has been lost in the media’s focus on only one part of the penalty debacle.
Transparency is needed within the closed shop of the SFA. Dallas after hearing the truth from McDonald still thought it was fair to blame the linesman as he spoke to the national press three days after the game at Tannadice.
When you’ve sorted out the mess of being in the 1st Division you can come on here and tell the big boys what to do!
Haha, not at all, TBA, cheers for your input.
As Dubcentral points out – McDonald had a stinker of a game – a fact the media have whitewashed down to a single incident – which is still open for debate.
However….the issue is now way beyond the penalty decision itself. You have officials telling lies – telling lies to save their skin – telling lies to managers – and if Dougie McDonald is to be believed this week – we have Hugh Dallas telling lies the day after he told his officials to tell the truth.
So…the first time they’ve lied….or the first time they’ve been caught? Except for the SFA, its not the first time they’ve been caught telling lies – Jim Farry lied and lied….and he was eventually found out too.
Its quite shameful (and yet predictable) the way the media has turned this into a Celtic matter when its a wider issue regarding the integrity of the officials. Across the board incompetency you can handle but deliberately telling lies – why should fans either bother turning up and paying a lot of money for games?
TBA, just read that Dougie Liar is to take control of your match v Ross County. I hope he doesnt end up telling more lies that may impede your promotion hopes.
Seriously though, is your issue because Jenny Lewis is a Celtic fan? She’s just following her boyfriends team!
Well the quality of her output has greatly diminshed since this revelation came to light.
I think you’re a wee bit too reliant on allowing the tabloids to present their version of the truth in this whole sorry debacle. If, as seems to be the case, you are happy to accept the ‘stories’ from the record and the sun as being completly accurate as to what has happened especially as they seem to be predominatly based on 1 linesman with an axe to grind then that’s up to you but, being more pragmatic about it, I think it’s fair to say a decision was made post match to say one thing about a decision which ultimately didn’t really matter anyway to the outcome of the game and then it’s all spiralled from that. I suspect all of us have been caught on the hop (by a bos or girlfriend or mum!) and altered the truth a little only for it to unravel in an unexpected way at some later point or maybe all Celtic fans are just too perfect for this to happen I know Neil Lennon is an angel sent from heaven so he’s right to feel aggrieved.
It seems to me it’s not the media turning this into some perceived Celtic matter but the Celtic supporters and the club themselves.
Make up your mind what the issue is
: Is it that he had a poor game overall – hardly unusal for him against any team, or is it the ( in tabloid speak) LIES or is that eveyboday is against Celtic? You really should put yourselves in the shoes of a non Old Firm supporter and see how the majority of the refs decisions look then.
By the way the First Division has been magic so far!
What this site has relied upon for our opinion are:
The Match Observers Report
The findings of the SFA
Dallas’ interview with Radio Clyde
This article lays out our working:
http://footballsfootball.com/WeknowSFA/celtic-straight-answer-sfa/
Clear and blatant lies from folk supposed to be adjudicating – Its hard to see how anyone can realistically say they have trust in the Dallas led regime with what has gone on.
The one thing about this site is that we’ve always battered on about the need for transparency – if theres nothing to hide, then show everything. This is as true for Celtic as it was for Rangers and the McGregor incident recently. If you look at the wider issue of Scottish football – its as true for Dundees punishment. Dundee should have been punished and punished harshly…but where did the 25 points come from? Not saying its wrong…but if rules were set in place outlining what would occur in certain events….well, not saying the Dundee fans would be happy…but at least they would know.
The issue has to be about the lie – contentious and debatable decisions happen every weekend – in fact, the Celtic game at the weekend was possibly the only SPL game where nothing dodgy occurred. The media have made it a Celtic issue with lines like “Celtic need put in their place” and “Celtic contest every dodgy decision” – they’ve contested two this season….there was no official complaint or contest of a peculiar offside decision given against Celtic on Wednesday….so the media is doing rather well to blur the lines and to deviate away from the main issue.
Which is we have officials who are prepared to lie to managers and then perpetuate these lies at a later date. Thats just not good enough…regardless of who you support.
This media outlet has it spot on – kudos to them:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/scottish-football-in-multi%11pound-cover-up-201011013211/
REFEREES in the Scottish Premier League have been implicated in a betting ring worth over £10.
Celtic were denied a penalty in their game against Dundee United on 17 October, following a surge of high stake betting in a vile bookmakers in some ghastly part of Glasgow.
Suspicions were later raised when match officials were seen buying brand-name groceries.
A Scottish Football Association spokesman said: “Our league is seen all around the world when there’s literally nothing else on television and it must be seen to be clear of any corruption that could stop the same two teams winning everything.”
The controversy unfolded after referee Dougie McDonald, 2007′s Most Scottish-Sounding Man in Scottish Football, appeared to consult with his linesman over whether it was physically possible to deny Celtic a penalty whenever they felt like one.
It later emerged that earlier that day a 52-year-old Glaswegian had bet £2.20 at odds of five to one that a penalty decision would be overturned.
The spokesman added: “It’s incredibly difficult to deal with match fixing in Scottish football for two main reasons – how do you know when the embarrassing shite is pretend embarrassing shite and was anyone even watching it in the first place?”
McDonald has denied any wrongdoing, insisting his Heinz and Birds Eye purchases were funded by the sale of an elderly relative to Greggs.