Shock Horror - a witty, informative and engaging referee!

Last Wednesday, the Scottish Football Union invited some of our members, with a few guests from our friends at ATAC and Supporters Direct Scotland, to meet with Willie Collum, the SFA Head of Refereeing, at Hampden Park.  

To be more accurate, it was Willie himself who issued the invitation, because, as he said, “We (that is the referees) want to engage with fans more than we have in the past and help them understand what we try to do, week-in, week-out, so they can enjoy their football at every level of the game.”

There were supporters from Rangers, Celtic, St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Glasgow City, St Johnstone, Hamilton Accies and Kilmarnock (about 25 in total), and, it’s fair to say, that every one of them left the room with a very different view of referees from the one they had when they entered it. The presentation was exactly the same at the one the clubs (officials and players) and the media had seen previously, but this was, I believe, the first time a Head of Refereeing has engaged directly with fans in this way. 

Willie made it crystal clear before we started that he was prepared to be asked, and to answer, any question.  Nothing was off the table.  He also invited everyone to ask questions during his presentation, which virtually everyone there did.

Essentially, he was telling us about the changes to the laws that are being introduced this season and how they will be interpreted in Scotland. But it was much more than that. To say it was all fascinating is an understatement.

His presentation was an eye-opener. For example, we were shown videos and asked to tell him our immediate reaction. Then we were shown the videos back again, and squirmed with embarrassment as we realised that the player we all thought was correctly booked for a foul was, in fact, the one who was actually fouled by the opponent. Then there were explanations of why a player is sent off in some circumstances for what all fans would think was a DOGSO (denial of a goal-scoring opportunity), but not in others. It all made sense. Then there was a player in the World Cup who got an opponent booked: it looked a stick-on yellow card, but when we saw it back it was a dive that Tom Daley would have been proud of.  And amongst all this, Willie also told us of occasions when he and other referees and VARs have made errors, and how they are, contrary to what most believe, marked down by their assessors for them.  He also explained exactly why Scotland had no referees at the World Cup – and it’s not what everyone thinks!

All through this, Willie took lots of questions, answering them politely and often wittily, engaging with everyone and making us keenly aware of just what a hard job our refs have in keeping a fast-moving professional game flowing whilst being able to interpret the nuances of the laws and dealing with players who, let’s be honest, will bend the rules to seek every advantage they can!  It was, to be frank, captivating, and while we were only expecting to be there for an hour, we were actually in for two hours, which just flew by.

The feedback was unequivocal.  This was a highly professional and informative presentation that changed the mind of virtually everyone there about both refereeing in general and Willie Collum in particular.  So much so, that one attendee asked at one point, “What can we do to help you?”  Willie’s answer was simple: “tell your friends.” Which is what this blog is attempting to do…

Now there will be many people frothing at the mouth at this point. I doubt I will change their minds, but I’ll leave you with a comment from a supporter of one of the Old Firm sides, made to me outside Hampden as we were leaving…

“I don’t know what I’m going to tell my friends. They thought we were going to see Willie Collum getting a kicking. I admit I was a bit sceptical myself, but honestly, I thought it was brilliant, education-wise for us, the fans.  The fact he went step by step, explaining everything and once he had done so the rest of us couldn’t disagree.  He was open and honest about everything. He was also willing to listen to the fans and give us his perspective.”

Alastair Blair, Operations Director, the SFU

Footnote:

The SFU is actively working with the SFA referees to help with recruitment and retention. The explosion of the women’s game and the (obvious after the World Cup) need for more Scottish youngsters to come through the ranks, means we need more and more referees.  If you’d like to become a ref, you can do so here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/en/referees/be-a-referee