Official Solidarity

24 November 2010 06:57
It appears that the SFA will have to work with what they have in terms of officials as European officials back their Scottish counterparts proposed action. The prospect of Scottish officials taking strike action this weekend appeared to recede following "constructive" talks with the SFA in Glasgow on last night. On Sunday Scottish referees voted to withdraw their labour, bringing this weekend's scheduled SPL, Scottish Football League and Alba Challenge Cup final games into doubt. The talks will continue today, with the prospect of a resolution seemingly possible. A spokesman for grade one match officials said: "After a constructive three-hour meeting with the SFA, talks are due to continue tomorrow. But the situation is that the weekend position is unaltered at present." After domestic officials voted to strike due to fears about safety amid an increasing climate of criticism, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan began scouring Europe for replacements, with Iceland, Ireland and the Scandinavian countries among his targets. But Norwegian and Icelandic officials refused to break the picket line. Rune Pedersen, head of referees for the Norwegian FA, said that officials in Norway would not be making themselves available this weekend. He said: "We have informed the SFA that we are unable to supply them with referees. There are three main reasons why. First of all, there are 12 top-class referees and 25 assistants who are down to go to Denmark for a seminar at the weekend. Secondly, there are 12 of our referees preparing for Europa League games next week. But referees are also worried about taking charge of matches in Scotland when their colleagues in Scotland are in dispute with their FA. I have discussed it with them and they have said they would not approve of referees coming to Norway if they had been in conflict with the Norwegian FA." On Tuesday morning, Sigurdur Thorleifsson, head of the referees' union in Iceland, said that Icelandic referees would be "ready if they want us to help out Scottish football". However, by the afternoon, a U-turn had been performed after discussion with Scottish referees. Thorleifsson said: "It is not so much a change of heart, it's just that we did not know what it was all about. We got a phone call from our FA saying they had received an invitation from Scotland and that they would be glad to send our referees to Scotland. At that time we didn't know what the story was about but we did some research on it and I heard from Scottish colleagues who told us what it was all about. They told us about their lives being threatened, the abuse they receive and the phone calls to their homes so there was no question of us going, we would stand by our colleagues in Scotland. Icelandic referees get abuse, but nothing like what we have been told happens in Scotland." There does not appear to have been any official contact yet with the Football Association of Ireland, but there have been informal and preliminary discussions. However, it is believed that Irish referees, for the same reason as their Norwegian and Icelandic colleagues, would not be receptive to an approach from the SFA. Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net

Source: FOOTYMAD