You can never be sure that Scottish referees won’t find a way to bend the rules of the game when it suits or perhaps when they are being subjected to intense pressure from the latest Ibrox club every time that they lose to Celtic…
In the recent Premier Sports Cup semi-final there were many incidents that were controversial and some that were clear-cut. Two though were judgement calls based on what the rule book says and therefore that’s essentially going to be down to the referee to make the call. Let’s assume that Nick Walsh, who handled the match in question, which ended in a 3-1 victory for Martin O’Neill’s Celtic, actually knows the rules.
We say that because so many of the commentators, pundits and supporters posting on social media clearly fail in that regard.
The two incidents we’re referring to are Celtic defender Auston Trust’s boot making contact with theRangers goalkeeper Jack Butland’s head and the penalty kick awarded to theRangers after the ball struck Anthony Ralston’s elbow as he fell to the ground with his arms tucked in.
If you were unfortunate enough to be a supporter of the latest Ibrox club then you’d have been screaming for a red card in both incidents for Ralston (already on a yellow) and Trusty. And Celtic supporters would have been saying there’s nothing in it regarding Trusty’s contact with Butland and that Anthony Ralston’s arms were tucked in so there’s no chance that this should be a penalty.
Of course there were other incidents in this match that outside of the Celtic support are being airbrushed out of the narrative and when Willie Collum pops up with his VAR review then for instance there will be nothing said on the ‘stonewall’ penalty claim for Celtic when Reo Hatate was barged over inside theRangers six yard box at Hampden.
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And also did them a favour by not red carding a player for a reckless ankle tackle.
And also did them a favour by pulling play back with Celtic on the attack.
And also did them a favour by not blowing for blatant fouls against our players when the opposition were clearly able to “leave afters with impunity. As they’ve done for many seasons.
So yes, it will read on one hand, to some folk, that there were a couple of big calls that went in our favour. But in reality that game was infuriating to watch at times as there were 2 different applications of the law being applied depending on which team was on the ball. And the R*ngurz Ref Review will not cover any of it.