The Scottish football referee strike refers to the unprecedented withdrawal of services by top level referees in Scottish football, following a dispute between the Scottish Senior Football Referees' Association and the Scottish Football Association. It affected 20 matches scheduled for the weekend of 27/28 November 2010 in the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Football League, the Scottish Cup, as well as the 2010 Scottish Challenge Cup Final. When combined with significant weather disruption, the effect of the strike was that only four games went ahead, all in the SPL on 27 November, using replacement referees drawn from Israel, Luxembourg and Malta. It was the first time since 1905 that a domestic Scottish match had been refereed by someone from outside Scotland.
The dispute centred on perceptions that the SFA was not doing enough to protect referees from undue criticism from football clubs, leading to increasing fears for personal safety as controversial decisions were debated by the media and fans. After referee Dougie McDonald was found to have lied to his supervisor and Celtic manager Neil Lennon after a game on 17 October 2010, the ensuing controversy and debate led to referees voting to strike on 21 November in an attempt to achieve substantial changes in the game. Immediately after the strike, McDonald opted for early retirement, to allow the ongoing dispute to focus on the issues at hand.
Background As a commercially separate entity, the referees for the SPL are provided under contract from the SFA. Until the 2010 dispute, there had never been a referees strike before in Scottish football. Scottish referees are not fully professional, and instead are paid on a match fee basis, currently set at £800 and equating to a maximum expected income of £10,000 a year according to ex-referee Stuart Dougal.
In 2008, a strike over match fees threatening the start of the 2008–09 season was averted when the Scottish Senior Referees' Association and the SPL agreed to benchmark SPL referees pay to that of other European leagues. At the time it was acknowledged that the dispute was not only related to pay parity, but also about questions over their authority, with Jim Traynor commenting that referees saw a "need to be protected from chairman and managers who question their honesty and integrity".
In December 2008, after several SPL managers were rebuked by the SPL and SFA for critical comments about referees, all SPL managers signed an agreement to stop discussing refereeing decisions after matches. According to Rangers manager Walter Smith, the agreement was a "show of intent from managers that there is an acceptance that there are too many headlines being grabbed by the fact that we may be a little critical of referees at times", while the then Celtic manager Gordon Strachan stated "we think we should take the pressure off referees a bit", and "Whether it works or not, I don't know, but it's worth a try". By the time of the 2010 strike, that experiment was described by BBC Scotland as having been short-lived, and by The Scotsman as having been gradually undermined.
Penalty incident and aftermath Refereeing in Scotland came under intense media attention in 2010 after a controversial incident on 17 October, during an SPL game between Dundee United and Celtic, which Celtic won 2–1. When the score was level at 1–1, referee Dougie McDonald awarded a penalty kick to Celtic. After consulting with assistant referee Steven Craven, McDonald annulled his initial decision. Celtic officials heavily criticised the decision to not award a penalty after the game. After Craven resigned on 25 October, it emerged that he and McDonald had lied to his supervisor, Jim McBurney, and to Celtic manager Neil Lennon about the decision making process. McDonald had claimed that he had changed his mind after consulting with Craven, when in fact he had changed his mind himself before consulting Craven. This revelation prompted an investigation by the SFA, which resulted in McDonald receiving an official warning on 29 October, while also upholding the actual decision.
Both before and after the warning was given, however, there were calls for McDonald to resign. There was also disagreement over the actual version of events between Craven, McDonald, and SFA Head of Referee Development Hugh Dallas. While resisting calls for an independent inquiry into the McDonald incident, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan launched an inquiry to review how referees are disciplined, suggesting the current method of examination by a panel of mostly former referees was improper. According to The Telegraph recounting the McDonald incident on the eve of the strike, "the rules do not permit McDonald to be sacked", and having declined to resign as the newspaper alleged some at the SFA felt he should, he subsequently returned to the referees roster. On 28 November, the day after Scottish referees went on strike, McDonald retired.
Following the SPL Old Firm game of 24 October, Celtic twice wrote to the SFA to question the decisions made by referee William Collum, who also received death threats. Denying he was stoking up tension around refereeing decisions, Neil Lennon condemned the threats. He also claimed that the media reaction to his club's recent questioning of referees as having been blown out of proportion, and that their actions were not out of the ordinary compared to other clubs. On 3 November Celtic striker Gary Hooper claimed referees wanted to give decisions against his team. Lennon then received a two match touchline ban after heavily criticising decisions by referee Craig Thomson and his team during a 2–0 away defeat to Hearts on 10 November. Lennon stated after the game "I'll seek clarification, but they'll probably have their story ready" and "Craig Thomson's supposed to be one of the best in the country. It doesn't say a lot for the rest if that's the case."
On 30 October, the SFA chief executive Stewart Regan, describing how his first month in the role had been dominated by the issue of refereeing, announced plans to launch a Respect campaign early in 2011. Regan commented that "This whole handling of referees by managers, players and clubs has got to stop". On the same day, Hearts released a statement calling for refereeing standards to go up significantly, post match statements from officials explaining decisions. The statement also suggested that lower standards could be a "cover for bias and match fixing".
On 16 November, Pete Wishart, a spokesman for the Scottish National Party on sport, stated that all referees in Scotland should be required to declare which team they support, claiming that while he did not doubt their fairness, such a declaration was in keeping with the general rise in the freedom of information culture. Two days later, the Celtic chairman John Reid, addressing Celtic's annual general meeting, stated that referee McDonald's position was now completely untenable and called for his resignation. He also stated that Wishart's proposal should be considered as part of the bold and radical action the SFA needed to take to restore their integrity in the wake of the controversy. On 21 November the Sunday Mail published a story claiming that 80 percent of Category One officials had failed a 30-question written exam on the Laws of the Game, conducted at a Spanish winter training camp in February, and alleged Hugh Dallas had been "taken aback" by the results and had instituted remedial action.
Strike action During a meeting in the afternoon of Sunday, 21 November, the Category One referees voted to strike over the crisis. Media reports suggested all 31 of the 33 Category One referees present at the meeting voted for the strike, supported by all 10 Category Two officials also present. The meeting had followed a regular monthly SFA organised meeting, after which the referees asked to carry on using the room for a meeting of the Scottish Senior Football Referees Association.
Based on the fact that Category Three officials represented by both the SRFA and the Scottish Association of Referees (SAR) had not been represented at the strike meeting, the SSFRA informed them on 23 November that as far as they were concerned, they were at liberty to choose whether or not they accepted appointments for the weekend.
Former Scottish referee Kenny Clark said that the reason for the strike was that referees were at "the end of their tether" over the effect criticism of their decisions was having on themselves, their families, and their professional lives. He cited instances of hate email being sent to the workplaces of referees. Fearing rising tension would lead to attacks, according to Clark, the strike was intended to "put down a marker", and that the comments from Reid had "put the tin lid on it" in the strike meeting. Another former Scottish referee Stuart Dougal said he believed that the SFA had not "been strong enough to come out in defence of referees" since the McDonald incident, and that while referees accepted criticism, "When there is innuendo, and questioning the referee's integrity, that's when it becomes unacceptable". According to The Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Mail story published in the morning the strike meeting was called "was regarded by many at [the strike] meeting as the last straw".
The referees indicated that the strike would proceed as planned, regardless of negotiations during the week, but that they intended to return to officiating afterward. The consequent negotiations, which were described by the referees as constructive, included the offer from the SFA of a ban on all immediate comment from managers on referees before and after games, and stricter sanctions for those who question referees integrity. The referees also sought written assurances from the chairmen of all 42 senior clubs that they respected referees integrity. After a second meeting on Wednesday 24 November, at midnight the referees reaffirmed the strike would be going ahead, as the action was not intended to be a "bargaining chip" to produce "quick fixes or deals". The SFA had set a deadline of Thursday for talks to succeed and the strike to be called off, after which they would be forced to implement contingency plans of seeking foreign, replacement officials.
Referee spokesman John McKendrick described how the strike was intended to affect root and branch change in Scottish football, and act as both a statement of intent and an opportunity for reflection, stating "The time for talking about practical steps to improve Scottish refereeing should start from Monday". He expressed doubt that had the strike not gone ahead, the same "desire for change" which had manifested in the SFA's announcements after the strike was called, would have occurred.
Reaction According to BBC Scotland, Celtic welcomed the strike, on the basis that it would prompt a UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) investigation into refereeing standards. UEFA however quickly stated they would not be intervening in the dispute, describing it as a "purely domestic matter" for the SFA to resolve.
According to The Daily Telegraph writing after the strike announcement, while "Celtic have remained at the centre of controversy", and excepting the statement from Hearts on 30 October, it stated that "other clubs and managers have refrained from any form of criticism [running up to the decision to strike] in a bid to ease the pressure". Denying that the recent disputes with Celtic were the sole factor behind the decision to strike, on the eve of the strike SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said "This is an issue across Scottish football as far as the refs are concerned. They mentioned incidents and individuals across the SPL and SFL".