Refereeing corruption in Scotland is rife. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory created by Celtic fans

For those of you who are Celtic fans that lived through the misery of the 90’s, this was an instructive era when it came to refereeing corruption in the Scottish game.

To put this into context, we spoke in depth last night on the Trinity Tims about the shambolic refereeing we were witness to during last Saturday night’s cup tie.

During the podcast, James made a very interesting point.

His point resonated with me, and formed the idea for this article in my head.

He stated that people call us conspiracy theorists because we constantly feel that referees are out to get us.

And that for a team that is discriminated against to the level we are, we seem to win an awful lot despite this discrimination.

Which is a fair enough point, if you’re not looking at things through green tinted specs.

However, in deepest, darkest, depressive days of the 90’s – when were winning very little – and it seemed like there was no stopping David Murray’s Rangers 1872 juggernaut, guess what was still happening?

Referees were shockingly still discriminating against us.

Now, I won’t go into this in depth, but I’ll give you some perfect examples in the 90’s of referees openly discriminating against us.

No Celtic fan conspiracy theories here, just facts.

Jim McCluskey, a prevalent referee throughout the 90’s, along with Bobby Tait, was a self confessed Rangers 1872 fan.

During a game at Ibrox between us and them in January of 1999, Celtic were denied a stonewall penalty when Andrei Kanchelskis took Stephane Mahe out of it in the Rangers 1872 box.

Alan Stubbs approached McCluskey to question him on his decision not to award a penalty.

McCluskey’s response to Stubbs was that as long as he was a referee, Celtic would never be awarded a penalty at Ibrox on his watch.

Two years previous at Ibrox, in January of 1997, with the scores at 2-1, Jorge Cadete scored a perfectly legitimate second goal for Celtic.

McCluskey and the linesman on the day ensured the goal was disallowed.

Rangers 1872 went on to win the game 3-1.

This was constant throughout the 90’s.

It happened again in May of 1999, during a title decider at Celtic Park.

Hugh Dallas ran amok, and ensured Rangers 1872 won the game comfortably by sending Stephane Mahe off for protesting a serious foul he was the victim of.

I could go on, and on.

I could talk about Bobby Tait.

And I could talk about the SFA and how Jim Farry deliberately delayed Jorge Cadete’s registration so Celtic couldn’t play him.

Farry lost his job for that.

Or I could talk about how Hugh Dallas sent sectarian emails about the Pope’s visit to Scotland in 2010.

He lost his job for that too.

No conspiracy theories here, just facts.

Successful or not, Celtic have been, and always will be discriminated against.

How many shocking factual stories have you heard or read about Celtic supporting referees discriminating against the Ibrox side down through the years?

Its amazing that every time we talk about refereeing culture and corruption in Scotland, its only ever about referees who are fans of the Ibrox side.

Last time a supposed Celtic fan gave a controversial decision against the Ibrox side, he was banished from refereeing their games until the end of the season.

Last Saturday nights officiating only served to bring all of this kind of behaviour into stark contrast again.

In reality, it is never far away.

Its almost every weekend.

Everybody sees it as perfectly normal that the Ibrox side have been awarded 6 penalties in their last 7 fixtures.

But we know that isn’t perfectly normal.

Our charismatic CEO has been known to joke about this on occasion.

When we know its the furthest thing from a joke.

Ibrox players are more likely to throw themselves down in the penalty box because they know the chances of them being awarded a penalty are higher than any other side out there.

Its human nature.

If you know you can get away with something, you’ll just keep on doing it.

We all remember when Fashion Sakala went down in the penalty box at Ibrox in January 2023.

His fist pumping while on the ground, knowing fully what his actions had led to was there for all to see.

We also know how unlikely it is that sides will ever be awarded a penalty against the Ibrox side.

That has been clearly evident this season.

Ask Livingston, Motherwell, and Dundee United how they feel about that?

But you know?

Its all just conspiracy theorists of a Celtic persuasion bandying endless conspiracies about, isn’t it?

All of the conspiracy theories could be brought to a swift end very quickly.

There’s a very simple solution to all of this, which nobody seems to want to touch.

And if nobody wants to touch it, why is that?

Corruption in the Scottish game would end in the morning if referees were made to declare their allegiances.

Just like in every other European league.

It would be over.

No more conspiracy theories.

But you see the problem is that if allegiances had to be declared, then 80% of Scottish referees wouldn’t be able to referee games involving Celtic and the Ibrox side.

And that just would not do, would it?

In order for that to happen, reform would need to happen, which I discussed in an article after the 2024 League Cup final.

And right now?

Reform just seems like too hard work for the SFA.

Supporting their favourite side without fear or favour is easier.

So let’s just keep it that way.

Key Takeaways

• Celtic fans argue that referees have historically discriminated against them, especially during the 90s when Rangers dominated.
• Examples of referee bias include Jim McCluskey stating Celtic would never receive a penalty at Ibrox and disallowing a legitimate goal.
• Repeated incidents demonstrate a culture of favouritism towards the Ibrox side, including recent controversial penalty decisions.
• The author suggests declaring referees’ allegiances could combat corruption, akin to practices in other European leagues.
• Despite the need for reform, the Scottish Football Association remains resistant to change, allowing bias to persist.