It’s not often you get the opportunity to say much in support of what Falkirk manager John Hughes says in public after his team’s latest defeat, but on this occasion his comments regarding the SFA’s stance on his club’s appeal against the red card shown to his player Patrick Clegg at Ibrox are absolutely spot on.
Hughes is justifiably raging with the decision not to reverse the decision to send Clegg off for what TV pictures proved was a perfectly legitimate challenge at the weekend, and insult was added to injury when, surprise surprise, the appeal from Rangers against the subsequent decision to send off their player Sasa Papac in the sme game WAS accepted.
Just how many times do we have to find ourselves in a situation like this before something is done about this clearly flawed (and arguably corrupt) system? As Hughes rightly points out, you simply cannot have an appeal system that involves the person who made the original decision contributing towards the outcome – it’s just not ethical.
Our own club have been the victim of this preposterous nonsense very recently too when defender Marius Zaliukas was inexplicably sent off at Pittodrie in late December. Once again the TV pictures proved that the Hearts player was completely innocent of all charges against him, yet the panel involving the referee who made the decision, who had the benefit of the same replays that everyone else saw, still saw fit to let the dismissal stand. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
What leaves a particularly bad taste in the mouth is the fact that blatant inconsistency reared its ugly head in favour of a big club here once again. It would be fair to say that both red card decisions were more than harsh, and if both had been reversed then there really wouldn’t have been much more said about it – mistakes were made and admitted, fine – we move on.
But the fact that it was the Rangers appeal that was accepted, when you could argue that out of the two incidents, the Papac one was the more reckless tackle, once again has people questioning the integrity of those responsible for making the key decisions in Scottish football.
Yogi was quite right to suggest that one of the ‘bad guys’ behind the scenes could well have had a word with those on the panel to ensure that the decision made was in the best interests of those who really matter, but regardless of how much truth could well be in that suggestion, all that’s likely to happen is that yet another SPL manager will be made an example of for having the audacity to question the establishment.
Good on John Hughes for speaking out here, but I fear that like Messrs Foulkes, Romanov and Levein before him, he won’t get far and will possibly have only brought more trouble on for his club, especially in terms of the treatment they’ll get from referees in the weeks and months ahead. Quite a few of us have already got that particular t-shirt…
Share this article
Related Articles
I didn’t see the game or the tackles involved, so it’s hard for me to comment on those. All I will say is that this sort of thing surprises me not at all, and I only hope those idiots at the GFA are stupid enough to do it to a few more clubs before the summer. Perhaps then, when they have their AGM we can get some proper action done to stop this. A vote of no confidence by all clubs would be a start…
Dishonesty in any area of life is hard to stomach. Sport in particular perhaps should be exemplary in providing an equal chance for all participants to achieve. Only the most naïve follower of football in Scotland (or perhaps those who have something to gain by turning a blind eye) would recognise Scottish football and those that control it as being decent, honest institutions. Rangers and Celtic will get every ?leg ? up? that can be given (sometimes subtly, sometimes not) and refereeing decisions, press coverage and SFA rulings for the rest will depend on how high they are in the league etc. and whether it is perceived that they have any chance at all of upsetting the duopoly. There is, it seems, too much petty rivalry between the non-old firm clubs to come together as one voice to challenge this and too little integrity elsewhere to want to bring about change for the good of the game.
Agree wholeheartedly with you there, imcd. If only the rest could stand together then they could make a really decent case for change. That’s what it’s going to take to get something done about these obvious problems.
I just watched the Rangers v Falkirk just now. The issue at question is consistency, and just what constitutes an “acceptable” foul. Papac committed what used to be called a “professional foul” – bascially stop the guy at all costs. I’d love to see all such fouls result in a straight red. Cregg was a bit clumsy with his trailing foot, but certainly no worse than Papac in terms of intent. So reversing Papac’s card – and not Cregg’s – seems daft. By the way, can TV evidence not be used to book Boyd for a blatant dive for the penalty ? I admire his scoring ability, but he is a downright cheat – and refs keep falling for it.
it can but not if you play for them!