Welcome to our Referee Ambassador

Calum Murray started refereeing in 1991. A friend of the SFU, who was a Category 3 official (Premier Linesman level) at that time, ran the line for him early in his career and told us that it was obvious that Calum was going to go to the top.

After playing Amateur Football well into his 20's, he took the referee entrance course at Boroughmuir HS in Edinburgh. Calum was greatly encouraged by two former teachers, Bill Barclay and Pete Clark from the Royal High School in Edinburgh, where he had helped coach after leaving school. He retains strong connection with Schools Football in Lothians, where Bill is still involved although retired from teaching. Pete sadly passed away earlier this year.  

After passing the exam, Calum took the usual route into refereeing via Juvenile , U18 and U21 Leagues before entering the Junior Leagues in 1995. He officiated for five seasons in the Junior ranks whilst also attaining Senior Referee status in 1997. He spent two Seasons at Category 3, then one season at Category 2 before becoming a Category 1 Official in 2000. His first game as a Category 1 was also Peterhead's opening match in the SFL (as it was then), v Montrose in August 2000. 

In total, Calum had 15 Seasons at Category 1 and officiated 430 matches as a referee in the four Divisions, 200+ of these involving Premiership sides. In that time, he acted as a FIFA Referee for five years between 2005-2009 and thereafter as an Additional Assistant Referee as part of Craig Thomson's team until 2011, before retiring just before his 48th birthday in 2015.

On-field Highlights 

Scottish Cup Final 2011 ( 2 Semi Finals in 2006/2009 )

6 Old Firm Derbies as Referee , 5 as 4th Official 

4th Official in 2 League Cup Finals , 2009/2012 ( 1 Semi Final as Referee in 2009 ) 

31 Scottish Cup ties as Referee

5 Edinburgh Derbies as Referee 

Challenge Cup Final in 2008

Youth Cup Final in 2003

Junior Cup Final ( Assistant Referee ) in 2000

51 European appointment (highlights Sweden v Malta WC Qual 2009 as Referee , CL Quarter Final Barcelona v Shahktar as Additional Assistant Referee in 2011, Benfica v Braga as Additional Assistant Referee , Europa Semi Final also in 2011) 

Final match in 2015 was the Rangers v Hibernian Premiership Play Off 

Off-field 

Secretary Edinburgh and District Referees Association 2000-2005 ( Received Honorary Life Membership from the Association in 2020 )

Referee Observer 2015-present 

SFA Referee Committee 2015-present

Judicial Panel Member for 5 Seasons ( 2015-2019) 

Coach and Referee Mentor for Scottish Football Association 

UEFA Referee Observer 2021-present

Professionally, Calum has worked full time as a Senior Analyst with Sky UK since 2007 . His background is primarily in IT and he has over 34 years' experience with previous roles with Menzies Distribution and British Gas. 

His older brother is involved with Ashfield Juniors and helps behind the scenes on match days, as well as running the club website and various other activities in and around the club. He is totally dedicated to the role with Ashfield and typical of a number of people who put in so much behind the scenes to keep clubs going. 

We are confident that having the endorsement of such a top-level match official will help our campaign to encourage more fans to take up refereeing and will also help foster even stronger links between the SFU and the 12 Referee Associations across Scotland. Welcome Callum!

Stuart Murphy, CEO, The SFU