Iain Brines: "From the angle I had adopted, I observed the Aberdeen player Diamond jump to meet the ball and I believed he used his hand to aid the ball's flight beyond him," the referee explained.
"Immediately I blew my whistle awarding a free-kick to Celtic.
"The majority of players reacted to the whistle by stopping - the exception being Diamond who placed the ball into the Celtic goal.
"On reflection and having had the opportunity to view the incident via television, I fully accept that I called this incident completely wrong.
"Having adopted the position I did, it didn't allow me to gain the best view of what happened during the incident. It is clear that the goal should not have been disallowed."
Above is the sort of example that demonstrates exactly what happens when a dubious decision is given in favour of Celtic.
Just to be clear – Barry Nicholson admitted that he had heard the whistle before he played the ball. The referee Iain Brines (who appears to be confused about the players’ involvement) states clearly that the whistle had been blown and most players stopped before the ball was struck.
Yet, despite these facts, an SFA Grade 1 referee responds to media pressure by insisting that the “goal” should nevertheless have been awarded.
In doing so, he completely disregards the rules of football and demonstrates such a poor understanding of his role to suggest that he should never again be allowed to referee a top-level match.
We wonder if SFA Chief Referee Don McVicar will see fit to comment on this, which, given that it was published on the SFA Whistleblower site, suggests that failure to comprehend the rules in order to pander to Celtic’s competitors is not a malaise confined to one referee.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment