No Scottish Officials at WC

[Hashimoto]

To paraphrase Ewan Murray

"52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 VAR officials confirmed for the World Cup. Scottish representation: zero".

What a damning condemnation of our referees and other officials. Looks like FIFA recognise what every one outside the old firm and SFA have been saying for years.

[Mikey1874]

Less stupid, wrong decisions then.

[Aussie Jambo]

1 minute ago, Hashimoto said:

To paraphrase Ewan Murray

"52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 VAR officials confirmed for the World Cup. Scottish representation: zero".

What a damning condemnation of our referees and other officials. Looks like FIFA recognise what every one outside the old firm and SFA have been saying for years.

Quel surprise. 
The biggest crooks in football are not invited by the biggest crooks in football. 

[indianajones]

Well, well, well. 

 

Recognised as being incompetent and shite then. 

[Tynecastle Valhalla]

They are both bad and corrupt 

[Australis]

The world recognises the corruption for the same two teams in our country.

 

They know it's inbuilt in them, and can't be knocked out of them.

 

So stop it spreading to the world stage.

[Mikey1874]

[Mikey1874]

Scotland's great success at VAR recognised too. 

[JJ93]

There will be a decline in thick brown envelopes purchased in the Americas, then. 

[Jingle Bells]

Things are looking up.

[Kingswells]

https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-fans-say-var-is-failing-us-it-s-time-for-change

[Percival King]

I'm staggered. I thought we had the best officials in world and that any dissatisfaction with them was because us fans are blinkered and none of us know the laws of the game. 

[Bill Sikes]

There's clearly guidelines that referees in different countries follow, CL is also different. 

You can see what the referees are going to give and not going to give very early on.

 

Then there's Scottish referees who change the rules by the week and the only consistent is the lack of consistency. 

 

Then there's VAR which is clearly borderline incompetent/corruption. 

[InternationalJambo]

Damning. 
 

Collum?

Edited April 9 by InternationalJambo

[maroonsgotop]

Our lot are more interested in putting the fix in for their masters as opposed to developing themselves to be their very best. Doesn't help of course that their pathway is clearly biased towards their masters by prioritising West Coast Officials. 

[kila]

Collum should really be out on his arse

[If carlsberg did rivals...]

Just as well really, imagine the shock when teams in blue got penalties for nothing and teams in green got 28 minutes injury time if they weren't leading after 90!

[jamboozy]

9 hours ago, kila said:

Collum should really be out on his arse

Agree. And he can take half of his colleagues with him.

   It’s pretty damming that there are no Scottish referees at the WC, especially after qualifying for the competition.

[John Findlay]

The least surprising news of the sporting year so far.

[alicante jambo]

Not surprised at all. Absolutely no confidence in our officials not one of them. Tells you everything you need to know. Collum being in charge ffs he was one of the worst refs i have seen in scottish football.

[JimmyCant]

Refereeing in this country has been brought to its knees by 2 men. John Beaton who is an out and out cheat and was caught red handed in the Rangers v Livi game and Willie Collum who turned a blind eye and has absolutely zero leadership skills and zero disciplinary sanctions ladder in place for our ‘top’ referees. There’s a whole raft of incompetence and sub conscious bias at the very least and it is shown in ALL our top officials. It’s got far worse under Collum than it’s ever been and he should be sacked this summer (but won’t be of course)

[kingantti1874]

10 hours ago, Kingswells said:

https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-fans-say-var-is-failing-us-it-s-time-for-change

daft. Have people forgotten just how many horrendous decisions rangers and Celtic picked up in years gone past. 
 

whilst there are undoubtedly problems there are less than there used to be.  
 

btw.  A big majority of that 1700 fans polled will support rangers or celtic 

[Marvin]

Not surprised at all. 10th year FIFA have not invited any of them. What's funny is Rangers and Celtic fans on X going on about how corrupt our referees are. 

[OTT]

10 hours ago, kila said:

Collum should really be out on his arse

 

Of course he should. 

 

This should be seen as a humiliating exposure of just how poor and badly thought of our officials are. 

 

This is the time where you remove Collum "with immediate effect" and then seek to appoint a credible high level former referee from England who has management experience at PGMOL or within their body in some capacity around mentoring, training and development. 

 

Someone with zero loyalties to any of the old guard (Beaton's career should have ended following the incident at Ibrox when he ignored a clear penalty for Livingston, one of a multitude of egregious errors, a rod that broke the camels back moment). We need someone who is going to champion consistent standards, and y'know what, someone with the balls to talk back and stand up for his referees against the OF, we need to change this culture of "mistakes only matter if they're against Rangers or Celtic". Far too many errors in every ****ing game we seem to watch. Refs get a flavour of month incident like DOGSO, and suddenly we have a DOGSO incident every game (Until we get to Ibrox, actually have a legitimate one and then it be ignored...).

 

Would also allow this person to bring 2/3 officials with him too. So fans can actually experience what competent refereeing looks like and then set standards for the younger referees, instead of having the likes of Beaton, Collum or Brines as their mentors... 

[Japan Jambo]

Well they get what they deserve.

[Percival King]

10 hours ago, kila said:

Collum should really be out on his arse

Maybe a journalist should ask him, or Maxwell, about this and why they think this has happened, they must have a take on it.

[martoon]

I don't keep tabs on such things but do "our" refs get used much for Champions, Europa and Conference League games?

 

Very damning, if not.

[Ex member of the SaS]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

daft. Have people forgotten just how many horrendous decisions rangers and Celtic picked up in years gone past. 
 

whilst there are undoubtedly problems there are less than there used to be.  
 

btw.  A big majority of that 1700 fans polled will support rangers or celtic 

This is always the problem with polls. Take an election for example. Stand outside any parties head office and ask anyone who comes out who they will vote for, the answer is obvious. Take this poll anywhere around Glasgow and there will be a huge majority of bigot twins fans answering.

[Hømme]

Celtic aren't playing at the World Cup so Scottish Referees are no required.

 

They will have their Parkhead financed holidays to attend in June anyway.

[Pans Jambo]

They’re all auld firm hoorz

[boag1874]

If I was as shite at my job as they are at theirs I'd get the sack - so it's not a big surprise that they're not getting rewarded with the highest profile tournament in football.

[Deevers]

Take it FIFA has had a good look at their dire performances and taken heed of the allegations of bias amongst them. A damning verdict on Collum and the hierarchy at the SFA who allow this to continue. I wonder when the cozy cabal will waken up to how the game here is perceived.

[ginger jambo98]

26 minutes ago, martoon said:

I don't keep tabs on such things but do "our" refs get used much for Champions, Europa and Conference League games?

 

Very damning, if not.

I think Nick Walsh was the ref in the Shakhtar Donetsk v Alkmaar game last night. Sad that he’s been fast tracked as our top official as I think he’s hopeless.

[martoon]

1 minute ago, ginger jambo98 said:

I think Nick Walsh was the ref in the Shakhtar Donetsk v Alkmaar game last night. Sad that he’s been fast tracked as our top official as I think he’s hopeless.

 

Cheers ginger, and you're right.

[El Prez]

Collum will be at the WC though. Don't you worry about that. 

[Ron Burgundy]

2 hours ago, OTT said:

 

Of course he should. 

 

This should be seen as a humiliating exposure of just how poor and badly thought of our officials are. 

 

This is the time where you remove Collum "with immediate effect" and then seek to appoint a credible high level former referee from England who has management experience at PGMOL or within their body in some capacity around mentoring, training and development. 

 

Someone with zero loyalties to any of the old guard (Beaton's career should have ended following the incident at Ibrox when he ignored a clear penalty for Livingston, one of a multitude of egregious errors, a rod that broke the camels back moment). We need someone who is going to champion consistent standards, and y'know what, someone with the balls to talk back and stand up for his referees against the OF, we need to change this culture of "mistakes only matter if they're against Rangers or Celtic". Far too many errors in every ****ing game we seem to watch. Refs get a flavour of month incident like DOGSO, and suddenly we have a DOGSO incident every game (Until we get to Ibrox, actually have a legitimate one and then it be ignored...).

 

Would also allow this person to bring 2/3 officials with him too. So fans can actually experience what competent refereeing looks like and then set standards for the younger referees, instead of having the likes of Beaton, Collum or Brines as their mentors... 

Agree completely but who would be removing him and who would be appointing a new man. The problem is too deep.

[hearts at heart]

Par for the course.

Pun intended.

[OTT]

1 hour ago, Ron Burgundy said:

Agree completely but who would be removing him and who would be appointing a new man. The problem is too deep.

 

We're told we're a club ran organisation. 

 

Rangers I'm fairly certain want Collums head on a spike anyway. So I'd wonder if his position is on a shoogly peg as things stand. Every team this season except really Celtic have had grievances with the way the officials and VAR have administrated their games. If the clubs push for his removal, then I don't think he has enough friendly faces to prevent his removal ?

[Mikey1874]

Nigeria, Korea, Turkey, Ghana among the countries with no one.

 

Ref from the Morocco v Senegal AFCON final not selected either. 

[InternationalJambo]

1 minute ago, Mikey1874 said:

Nigeria, Korea, Turkey, Ghana among the countries with no one.

 

Ref from the Morocco v Senegal AFCON final not selected either. 

In a bracket with other countries that are rife with match fixing?! I would never have expected that.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Ours are bad, guaranteed there will be worse though

[The Treasurer]

I'm looking forward to how Collum tries to put a positive spin on this 

[Ex member of the SaS]

1 hour ago, OTT said:

 

We're told we're a club ran organisation. 

 

Rangers I'm fairly certain want Collums head on a spike anyway. So I'd wonder if his position is on a shoogly peg as things stand. Every team this season except really Celtic have had grievances with the way the officials and VAR have administrated their games. If the clubs push for his removal, then I don't think he has enough friendly faces to prevent his removal ?

This has bothered me for years. As a fan owned club why are we not getting the other clubs round the table to force change? The fact that Doncaster has the job for life is killing the game. The whole GFA board should be forced to resign after four years and the clubs vote in new guys. The clubs should also be asking why all officials come from such a small area when there must be officials from up north and through here in the east that can be promoted.

PS the Livi penalty denial was the perfect time as it would not have been seem as sour grapes as we were not involved.

Edited April 10 by Ex member of the SaS

[Bill Sikes]

The entire refereeing system needs a proper review, instead of Rangers offering to pony up for better VAR they should spend that money on a proper forensic investigation going back as far as 20 years.

 

Not for any other reason but to improve, they surely can't get any worse than they are currently and VAR has just highlighted even more how corrupt/poor every single one of them is. 

[OTT]

1 hour ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

This has bothered me for years. As a fan owned club why are we not getting the other clubs round the table to force change? The fact that Doncaster has the job for life is killing the game. The whole GFA board should be forced to resign after four years and the clubs vote in new guys. The clubs should also be asking why all officials come from such a small area when there must be officials from up north and through here in the east that can be promoted.

PS the Livi penalty denial was the perfect time as it would not have been seem as sour grapes as we were not involved.

 

The lack of willingness by all non-OF clubs to aggressively tackle the issues with the referees is really offensive as an ordinary fan. 9 times out of 10, we win **** all anyway, so the idea that the referees could penalise clubs on the field just doesn't stack up - there hasn't ever really been much to lose. 

 

As a fan owned club, we should be speaking to Falkirk, Motherwell, Livingston, St Mirren, Aberdeen, Hibs etc. and getting everyone onto the same page around what we view as unacceptable - e.g. the heavy west coast bias in terms of selection of officials and making things public. 

 

The SFA/SPFL do not want to change, as you say, Doncaster has a job for life, change isn't in their vocabulary. We're supposed to be a member led organisation, so maybe its about time the members spoke up?  

[HeartsandonlyHearts]

So FIFA has been paying attention but our third rate association not so much.

The list of countries that do have representation should be a red card for Gollum and others.

 

[jambo-in-furness]

Remember the joke

 

“What do you call a Scotsman at the World Cup”

 

not this time Collum

[OTT]

4 hours ago, HeartsandonlyHearts said:

So FIFA has been paying attention but our third rate association not so much.

The list of countries that do have representation should be a red card for Gollum and others.

 

 

It is something that should trigger some reflection from the SFA. 

 

It won't. 

 

But it should. 

[Drumjambo]

On 10/04/2026 at 08:12, John Findlay said:

The least surprising news of the sporting year so far.

 

It absolutely is John but we can thank the officials for a close old title race this year  as both the arse cheeks would 7-9 points behind us without them to be fair !!

Edited April 11 by Drumjambo

[Spellczech]

This is a massive embarrassment for the SFA - bu they won't see it... (Neither would their officials TBH)