noelyf
VIP Member
Thursday, 25 November 2010
The Scottish referees' boycott of this weekend's matches over abuse from players and managers is going ahead after the officials refused to back down.
The SFA confirmed on Thursday that the boycott was to go ahead.
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said in a statement: 'This is a very sad day for Scottish football. After further positive talks yesterday, and having received the backing of both the SPL and the SFL, I felt that we had shown our commitment to the refereeing fraternity and that they had recognised that substantial progress had been made.'
The SFA had set a deadline of midnight on Wednesday for a resolution to the strike threat but were informed by the referees that they were not backing down.
'If this withdrawal of labour goes ahead it will be the fans, clubs, sponsors and media partners who will suffer and that cannot be good for the game in this country,' said Regan.
'I would urge the Category 1 referees to reconsider their decision and, having benefited from the wave of sympathy for their current situation, plus the offer of affirmative action, realise the potential impact of their actions.'
Category 1 officials handle matches in the top-level Scottish Premier League.
The boycott means the SFA will be forced to use officials from other international associations to enable some fixtures to take place.
The catalyst for the strike was the reaction to referee Dougie McDonald admitting to misleading Celtic manager Neil Lennon about how he and his assistant Steven Craven came to overturn a penalty decision for the Glasgow club against Dundee United last month.