Abuse of referees must be stopped

IT appears that we need to watch just what we say about referees these days, as there is a genuine threat of them walking out and leaving the game in a state of disarray.

Stuart Dougal�s stark revelation at the weekend suggesting refs will quit the game if they continue to be abused, is one I think we should take very seriously.

I�m not usually a great admirer of the men in black (or yellow or green) but I am savvy enough to know that we can�t play the games without them. Yes, I know that they aren�t always the most competent of professionals, and yes they do seem to be making a lot of mistakes recently, but that�s just down to human error.

What we can�t have is accusations from managers and players regarding their integrity. Last week, veteran whistler Alan Freeland had to be backed by his bosses after St Mirren manager Gus McPherson asked for him to be replaced before their fixture with Dundee United. Gus intimated that Freeland had a bias against his team, and he could not trust him to be fair with his decisions.

That really is going too far, and I fully expect the SFA to take some form of action against him.

STIRLING OBSERVER