Mistakes and Mistakes

It's now almost two weeks since the miserable afternoon at Hampden which saw Celtic's treble dream end for another year. I now feel (just) calm enough to write a blog post about the awful refereeing performance of Steven McLean.

I've refereed Sunday league matches before. Hardly a Scottish Cup semi-final but enough to know how difficult a job it is. Incidents can happen in the blink of an eye and you have a second or two to make your mind up. Mistakes are inevitable and they are, to me, all part of the game.

I don't expect referees to turn in flawless performances every match. They are only human after all, but there are mistakes, and then there are mistakes.

Willie Collum (surely the worst referee ever to "grace" the football fields of Scotland) made a mistake on Sunday at Tannadice, but it was an understandable mistake. Gary Mackay-Steven was running into the penalty box at some pace. Rankin slid in and caught him just outside the box, but the contact continued into the box and by the time GMS hit the ground he was well inside the penalty box.

Collum had only a split second to make up his mind whether the offence occurred inside or outside the penalty box in a high-speed incident and got it wrong. It happens all the time and in this instance, the referee can be forgiven.

Compare that to McLean's howler. It happened quickly, but it was still the most blatant handball you are ever likely to see. Meekings' hand started by his side and moved towards the ball. If he hadn't done so the ball would have headed towards goal. Whether you consider his action to have been instinctive or not, it passes the "deliberate handball" test. Griffiths' header was not going too fast for him to move his hand out of the way. His arm was not in a "natural" position when he handled it. It was very clearly a case of "ball to hand."

It is not for the referee to attempt to read a player's mind when deciding if a handball is deliberate. All of the above provides more than enough evidence for the referee to conclude it was deliberate.

This mistake is of the unforgiveable variety.

First of all, I have no doubt in my mind that McLean deliberately ignored Josh Meekings' handball. From every angle, there appears to be no way he didn't see it. He did see it and he chose not to award a penalty and send off the ICT defender for deliberately preventing a goal.

Proving that though, and proving that he deliberately chose not to award a penalty is virtually impossible. That being the case, we have no other option than to take McLean's (and the assistant referees on the touchline and behind the goal) word for it that he didn't see the handball.

Now I can accept that Steven McLean did not see the handball.

I can accept that the assistant behind the goal did not see the handball.

I can accept that the linesman did not see the handball.

What I cannot accept, is that all three of them missed the handball. But nevertheless, we have to accept that he did not see it.

We don't need to waste our time trying to prove bias or corruption over this decision. The evidence is there before our eyes that Steven McLean, as a referee, is unfit for purpose. Because if he did not see the handball that virtually every other person in the stadium spotted from a far greater distance away than he was, Steven McLean is an incompetent.

On that basis, there has to be action taken by the SFA. I can accept that we have a referee pool who will regularly make mistakes, but I cannot accept that we have a referee pool that includes incompetents.

In the 2009-10 season, a new phrase entered the Scottish football lexicon, in what became The Season of the Honest Mistake. An incredible amount of astonishing decisions seemed to go Rangers' way and against Celtic. After every one, we were told to accept that referees make mistakes and move on.

This is not good enough. Our referees operate in an environment where they know they will not be held to account for even the most incredible wrong decisions. Decisions which turn the courses of matches and cost clubs honours and in some cases millions of pounds.

So when you have a referee like, say, Steven McLean, who's brother used to play for Rangers, and he is tempted to ignore a stonewaller of a penalty for Celtic, that referee will know that if he does so, he will be protected by the SFA, who will repeat the, "referees make mistakes, let's move on," mantra.

The SFA must insist on the highest standards of its referees. That does not mean banishing referees to the lower leagues for every little mistake, or even every big mistake they make. But when they get the easy ones wrong, that's when action is needed.

Willie Collum on Sunday was like a goalkeeper beaten by a long-range shot into the top corner - maybe if he wasn't so far off his line he might have saved it, but it was still a good shot that would have beaten most goalkeepers.

Steven McLean at Hampden was like a goalkeeper who catches a cross then throws it into his own net.

We'll never prove bias, but the present system makes bias eminently possible because no matter what referees do, they'll be protected. The system must ensure referees know that if they get something badly wrong, there will be consequences. Steven McLean for one should be dropped from the Grade 1 list permanently.