The SFA on Trial

Football in Scotland is descending into farce once again and once again, the need to protect and promote Rangers* is at the heart of it. This time though, it is ever more serious. Over the past six years the administrative side of the game was affected. Now it is affecting the Laws of the Game (as applied in Scotland) itself.

In one sense, the decision of the Compliance Officer yesterday was perfectly reasonable. The rules state that if the referee saw an incident, then the Compliance Officer cannot intervene. On this occasion, the party at fault is referee John Beaton and he must be dealt with, but the situation is the culmination of a series of events in which the SFA is squarely at fault.

Beaton’s handling of last week’s Glasgow derby was by any standards a disgrace. We have to state the usual caveats of course, that Rangers* deserved to win etc, but that is missing the point. Rangers* were the better side and much of that was down to their performance and approach to the game, but equally there is no doubt Beaton’s handling of the match contributed to Rangers’* ability to dominate the match.

Every time Beaton allowed fouls by Rangers* to go unpunished, he helped keep them on the front foot. Every time he stopped play to award a freekick to Rangers* he relieved the pressure from them and allowed them to build an attack. Each time he allowed Morelos to assault a Celtic player, he saved Rangers* from having to play with 10 men (some might say 13).

Let’s take just one example – the build up to Morelos’ stamp on Anthony Ralston.

Just before the stamp, Ryan Christie was fouled on the touchline, about 10-15 yards inside Celtic’s half. He was challenged from behind and had his legs taken from under him. A clear foul.  A freekick to Celtic at that point would have resulted in Rangers* retreating into their own half, with Celtic having the opportunity to move forward. Instead, Beaton allowed Rangers* to play the ball down their left wing, putting Anthony Ralston under pressure as he ran to take possession, with Morelos chasing after him.

At this point, Morelos barged Ralston from behind, knocking him to the ground as he played the ball out. A freekick to Celtic at this point would have resulted in Rangers* retreating to the halfway line, giving Celtic the opportunity to build from the back or launch the ball long into Rangers*’ half. Instead, Beaton ignored the foul and awarded Rangers* a throw in in the final third, putting Celtic under pressure and giving Rangers* possession in a dangerous position.

As Ralston fell, Morelos then tried to catch him with his foot a couple of times before jumping over him and stamping on his back as he did so. A deserved red card for Rangers* would have left them a man short, instead Morelos was allowed to stay on the pitch.

Many people have said Celtic just have to be better than them so that Beaton’s decisions don’t matter – an absolute nonsense.

Saying this means you don’t think Celtic deserve a level playing field. It’s okay for Celtic to be handicapped by poor/biased officiating. You’re collaborating with your own oppression.

Whether Rangers* were the better team or not is immaterial. It doesn’t mean it’s okay for the referee to favour them and it doesn’t mean Celtic don’t have a legitimate grievance.

Secondly, how is any team supposed to overcome refereeing like Beaton’s? When the other side can literally boot you in the balls with impunity, what chance have you got? You can be kicked, stamped, ball-grabbed, shirt-pulled, barged etc and the referee will wave play on. What on Earth are you supposed to do to overcome that?

Beaton’s antics absolutely did have a bearing on the result of the game. He ensured that Rangers* were constantly on the front foot and Celtic constantly under pressure and on the defensive. Yes Rangers* wanted it more and yes Rangers* played very well, but Celtic were never going to be allowed to compete on a level playing field and that absolutely did contribute to the result.

By telling the Compliance Officer that he saw all three Morelos incidents cited, and that he decided no action was required, Beaton has saved Rangers* from the consequences of Morelos’ actions yet again. Serious questions must be asked of John Beaton because any sane observer can see that all three incidents deserved a red card and if John Beaton could not see that, he has no business being on a football pitch.

The SFA must be made to make some kind of statement about this. Beaton is clearly not fit to referee at any level if he did not see the need to take any action. The question now is, what do the SFA think of that?

If the SFA disagree with Beaton’s decisions (which shouldn’t even be in doubt) then they must take steps to remove him from the Grade One list. To decide one of those incidents, in the heat of the moment, was not worthy of action, is at least plausible. To decide all three in the same match were not worthy of action is at best sheer incompetence.

But I would go further than that. *No one* is that incompetent. Taking his overall handling of the match together with deciding three blatant instances of violent conduct required no action, leaves you with only one conclusion – John Beaton is a cheat. John Beaton corrupted the match and did everything in his power to ensure a Rangers* win.

If the SFA cares anything for the game of football in Scotland, they will never allow John Beaton to referee another match. There’s no need for them even to open the can of worms that would result from calling out his cheating. There’s more than enough evidence to show Beaton is absolutely incompetent to referee in the SPFL and we can move on from there.

By doing this, the SFA can send out the message that incompetent refereeing will not be accepted. Referees will know they cannot favour one team and get away with it. Failure to deal with Beaton will be yet more proof that the SFA themselves are not fit to govern football in Scotland.

The SFA has presided over the descent of the game of football in Scotland into a violent farce. Morelos was sent off at Aberdeen in the first game of the season and the Compliance Officer on this occasion overturned the red card on the grounds that his kick on an Aberdeen player was “petulant” rather than “violent,” and that it did not constitute the “excessive force,” or “brutality,” necessary to warrant a red card.

Football in Scotland is now played to a different set of rules to the rest of the world. Morelos’ red card was overturned. Allan McGregor escaped censure for kicking Kristoffer Ajer even after a panel of former referees looked at it. John Beaton may be the immediate cause of the latest farce, but this is the result of previous decisions taken by the SFA and it should be the SFA themselves who are now on trial.

They corrupted the game in Scotland to achieve a Rangers-branded club in the SFL in 2012 after apocalyptic warnings of what would happen if this was not allowed.

They devised the infamous Five Way Agreement, including the previously unheard of “conditional membership,” to facilitate Rangers* participation in the Ramsdens Cup. They devised the previously unheard of transfer of membership to enable Rangers* to participate in the old Third Division.

They arranged for the LNS Commission to investigate Rangers for the use of EBT’s and the fielding of ineligible players for over a decade from 1998 – 2011, then subverted that process by cutting out the period from 1998-2001 and via one of their own officials (Sandy Bryson) concocted the previously unheard of “imperfectly registered but eligible,” to avoid stripping titles and trophies from Rangers’ historical record.

They imposed a registration ban on Rangers* but stood by as they subverted that by signing free-agents in the transfer window to register after it was closed, thereby ensuring the registration ban was meaningless.

The SFA has a long history of finding loopholes to help promote and protect Rangers* and the history of the past six years alone shows that the SFA cannot be trusted to treat Rangers* the same as they do every other club. When they are prepared to break their own rules just to have a Rangers* in the game, how can they possibly be perceived as acting in good faith if they allow referees to ignore Rangers* players kicking and stamping on opponents?

John Beaton has stuck two fingers up at the fans of every football club in Scotland other than Rangers*. Now the SFA must decide where they stand. Will they join Beaton in sticking up two fingers at every football fan in Scotland, or will they do the right thing – deal with Beaton and ensure that football in Scotland is played to the same rules as every other country in the world, where kicking an opponent in the balls is violent conduct and deserving of a red card?