The SFA Head of Refereeing, John Fleming, spoke about the semi-final incident on Sunday, largely to protect his fraternity. Referee Steven McLean made a huge error but Fleming said “I don’t think there was anyone in the ground who would have thought it was 100% a penalty and sending off until they had seen the replay.”
This flies in the face of the Celtic players who claimed for a penalty on the spot, the raised voices from thousands of Celtic supporters, and the shout from the TV commentator. Fleming’s assertion is demonstrably untrue.
He is a man in a position of authority at the SFA. He is allowed to have opinions, or to disagree with any club, but making untrue statements to protect his referees is a wholly inappropriate. If is the standard referees are held to, no wonder we have problems. Having asked for clarification on the refereeing error yesterday, I expect Celtic will be even keener on an explanation for Fleming’s incredulous comment.
I’ve linked here to a Stanford University report on Omission Bias in Sports. The report finds that people are biased to favour inaction (i.e. don’t make a decision) over action (make a decision which will have a profound impact).
It’s an interesting concept which good refereeing guidance will account for. They found that “For all sports, effect [is]stronger if game is close and weak when score is lopsided”.
Omission bias is what we should be looking for in Scottish football. Evidence this video of former referee Kenny Clark, who while still officiating SPL games told an audience that he held a grudge against Celtic’s John Hartson and failed to award him a foul which he saw clearly enough to describe in some detail.
Unfortunately, no journalist has ever been able to contact Mr Clark to ask him about his grudges or omission bias. If this was England, the media would not allow Clark to flaunt omission bias while defending it in others, he would be called to account.
See above, Sunday’s officials greeting each other on the pitch before kick off. Before the dust settles on this one, some of us better learn a new handshake. Those wanting real change at the SFA will have to fight for it.
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No really an expert on this handshake stuff, but that one looks a bitty like the Campbell-Walter one. Maybe an SFA thing……?
HT
Still waiting on further info re the Celtic Trust
HH
coolmore mafia
13:12 on
21 April, 2015
Did the McStays ever get any hassle in larkhall or were they left alone?
I could not tell you, if you are asking me.
John hartson says there is no
Conspiracy?
Bet he wasn’t thinking that at the league cup final in 2003 when he had a goal disallowed against you know who
Paddys day as well I think
Just before his netripper at Anfield
He wasn’t offside but you knew that anyway
Hi Starry Plough, no i am not a referee….. am i right in thinking that the SFA don’t ask officials to confirm their team choice – in England and Europe this is common practice.
BBJ
Was at ipox before he signed for Celtic
He has an affinity to our club but he is a Swansea fan
Timjim
The nearest Celtic supporting pub for you is in Cowie
Cowie bowlers, affectionately referred to as the Vatican :-)
Hail Hsil
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
13:21 on
21 April, 2015
BBJ
Was at ipox before he signed for Celtic
He has an affinity to our club but he is a Swansea fan
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Very true. I always think the ex players that really care about Celtic are the one’s who aren’t commenting on Celtic in the papers. Does always hold true to be fair, but it seems to for the more recent ex players.
josiebee
12:46 on 21 April, 2015
R.e Macavennie
He was called out on Clyde by a fellow Tim for his comments about Celtic
He lost the plot and started shouting about “celtic never paid me my wages ”
That’s when the penny dropped….It was awe doon tae money wae Frank
A Hero then,A Fud noo
HH
You won’t be quoted ……ask Tosh McKinkay or Tom Boyd?
P67
That sentence – “I don’t think there was anyone in the ground who would have thought it was 100% a penalty and sending off until they had seen the replay ” – sums up in so many ways why the SFA are so short of fit for purpose.
As well as being factually incorrect as you say ( even a cursory look at the replay from behind the goal show thousands of Celtic fans immediately calling it) the biggest issue for me is that it displays an arrogance and condescension regarding football fans( ie their market) that is at the core of the problem.
It essentially says we can say / do what we like – that mob are too stupid to do anything about it. Whether that mob is fans in general or just Celtic fans I don’t know.
Either way they’re killing the very game they’re charged with promoting.
bournesouprecipe
13:28 on
21 April, 2015
You won’t be quoted ……ask Tosh McKinkay or Tom Boyd?
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And then quote them? ;)
Cowiebhoy
Does wee Peter Smith still have something to do with the club. Worked beside him as a Postman, sure he’s a Hun. The reason I would go to Denny is because I used to live there and still go to mass there. So I know a lot of people there
In a tyre place there and one guy says to the other guy “I see Celtic are writing to the SFA about that penalty” Other guy ” whit penalty” That wan in the cup v ICT” Other guy ” how whit happened”? Other guy tells him. “Theyve an effin cheek all the penaltys they git”
I didnae bite and he got SFA tip!!!
Paul67
“…Those wanting real change at SFA will have to fight for it.”
Sounds ok to me and I’d add, to those being denied real change at SFA, behind closed doors – tell us.
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Info request:
I’d like to go up to Dundee tomorrow and work keeps me in Motherwell, Hamilton Rd until 5pm.
Do any supporters’ buses leave from this vicinity after that time and could add a paying non-member (i.e. me) to the travel plan?
Can check this evening.
TIA
Fleming said “I don’t think there was anyone in the ground who would have thought it was 100% a penalty and sending off until they had seen the replay.”
————–
Aaaahhhhh. 100% certain.
So when Kirk Broadfoot goes flying through the air and falls in the box, with the ref not even looking, he couldn’t POSSIBLY give a penalty for that? Surely……..
……..4th knuckle-shuffling, knuckle-draggers…………………..
BT
http://www.celtictrust.net
OneMalloy
Apologies I thought I’d replied to everyone who emailed me. I’m afraid it will be later tonight when I’ll have an opportunity to reply mate.
Anyone who wishes to join the Trust directly can do so at the above link, however, there is a possibility that the joining fee will soon be reduced from £10 to £1. I’d been posting the link since Friday so it was not in reaction to Sunday’s events, it was more to do with establishing how many folk would be interested in joining or getting involved in some of the work that the Trust does.
Anyone who wishes more information can contact me directly on hamiltontim@hotmail.co.uk
On Shortbread last night it was claimed that the referee, his comrade on the touchline and his comrade behind the goal line couldn’t see the handball because ‘Leigh Griffiths blocked their view’.
No more ketchup for Leigh, since he’s now apparently the size of Giant Haystacks.
DBBIA/KentWaltonCSC
John Fleming is another arse and it’s the same as DougieDougie, they’re all out getting their excuses in straight away, how about a system that has a failsafe for referee’s “mistakes” and a transparent process for judging the referee’s.
Scottish fitbaw has become a puddle of inbred blazered feckwittery under the feet of wellied feckin’ idiots like Fleming..
With handshakes like that I wonder what will happen in the playoffs?
Or will it be “just one(or many) of these things”
Dontbrattbakkinanger
13:38 on
21 April, 2015
On Shortbread last night it was claimed that the referee, his comrade on the touchline and his comrade behind the goal line couldn’t see the handball because ‘Leigh Griffiths blocked their view’.
No more ketchup for Leigh, since he’s now apparently the size of Giant Haystacks.
DBBIA/KentWaltonCSC
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Don’t forget Tunnock Caramel Waffers :0)
magbuklod kamelyo
13:13 on
21 April, 2015
i think we should seriously look into making the SFA realise that there is no more of this nonsense to stand. I think the club and the fans should have a series of meetings on this and i would propose :-
Home SFA ties (not that we seem to have any) we attend as per a league game
Away SFA and Semi Final etc – we refuse tickets and offer a beam-back at Celtic park. Fiver a head and quid for kids providing you bring a food bank donation.
Chuck in a band etc and take it from there.
Then the SFA can discuss with TV companies why no Celtic fans are there.
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We need to boycott all SFA cup matches, home or away and field a development squad. I would even extend this to league cup fixtures if only to try and get rid of that donkey Doncaster whilst we attempting to clean-out the stables. As for the beam-back idea, a boycott is a boycott – we steer clear completely and hit the sponsors as well.
Someone in an earlier post remarked that we were the power in the land. That is only partially true but we saw on Sunday what happens when our enemies assume that we will not use that power to defend ourselves. Boycott the SFA has to be the clarying calls for all our supporters that we need a complete boycott of anything to do with the SFA. You are either for us or against us.
BBJ would probably have signed for the team then known as Rangers if they hadn’t had concerns about his knees (seem to remember reading that in the papers so it could be baloney)
No doubt Sutton would have done the same had that offer come up first.
Stan and Stefan – Sitting doon for Scott Broon
13:07 on
21 April, 2015
The real shame is that the story should be about “wee team beats big team in cup upset” and instead is about the officials.
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With respect, it’s not – the real story should , in all probability , have been about us getting to the final and the treble still on.
I accept , of course, that there was no guarantee of that but the odds of us going through when at least 1-0 up and probably 2 and ICT down to 10 men would meant that the headline of “Small beats big Team” would never have seen the light of day.
What’s more ICT are third in the top league of Scottish football and therefore don’t qualify IMHO as a small team.
Now, if they were playing in the second tier of Scottish football…
Dontbrattbakkinanger 13:38
Leigh would have to be like one of those bendy screen things that fold out in three directions.
BBJ failed the Rainjurs medical trying to dismount the ole St Etienne bike.
Leigh ‘transformer’ Griffiths. How come he couldn’t use his 20-odd stone to shield the ball better on Sunday?:)
TimJim,
I live there for 4 years…some place….the ex and ma kids still live there….the wee man looks splendid with his hoops on walkin past ‘the billy’!!!!!!!!!!
DBBIA
“No more ketchup for Leigh, since he’s now apparently the size of Giant Haystacks.”
And , given that the officials were looking at the incident from three separate angles, the power of trilocation…
EctoplasmCSC
magbuklod kamelyo
13:20 on 21 April, 2015
Hi Starry Plough, no i am not a referee….. am i right in thinking that the SFA don’t ask officials to confirm their team choice – in England and Europe this is common practice.
~~~~~~~~~~~++~~~~~~~~~~~
Correct,mate. All done on a handshake.
Welcome to the site,of course. HAIL HAIL
This nonsense is extremely deep rooted, a few years back we had Bobby Tait, this guy, and I will quote the main stand linesman at a Hampden Youth Cup Final after Andy O’Brien was almost chopped in two, “you would need to shoot one of they bastards before I would give them a penalty”, was as blatantly biased as Gordon and Davidson, incredibly he requested his final match be at Ibrox (which backfired spectacularly) and most recently as February this year he was a guest speaker at a Sevco function in Thailand.
In any other country in the world, the press would go to town on this kind of stuff but in Scotland it doesn’t rate a mention.
The influence of the craft is deep and without brave individuals to call it out, nothing is going to change. The fact that Ogilvie and that other pair of goons are still in place, is proof positive of just how much that odious organisation continues to both run and destroy Scottish Football.
AR
STIRLINGBHOY
Where do you live now?
yogihughes,
I see thomthethim has answered your question (correctly).
For the avoidance of doubt as our Phil says; ‘suaimhneas’ means peace or tranquillity.
My last sentence was essentially saying ‘may she have eternal rest’
Árd Macha
There is a strong possibility that we may get a penalty tomorrow night as these things seem to even themselves out over a season.
Well I hope whoever takes it sees it as the insult it is meant to be.
Hope they boot it out for a throw in
http://videocelts.com/2015/04/blogs/latest-news/sfa-drop-steven-mclean
McLean down to fourth official on the weekend…
for those calling for a bhoycott of sfa matches including fa cup wise up celtic wont do it
they are to greedy and will forget this episode as soon as the next money spinner comes along we get what we deserve and we are a greedy club.
Jude 2005?
“I didnae bite and he got SFA tip!!!”
What’s an SFA tip?
“Pssst… Celtic won’t win the treble- put your house on it?”
One of those tips from the SFA?