When the SFA delivered their verdict and handed out a hefty sanction final week, Elliot Watt will need to have had a wry smile on the absurdity of all of it.
Figuring out {that a} transfer to Turkey to affix Samsunspor was nearing completion, Motherwell midfielder Watt would have laughed it off as an irrelevance.
There was no prospect of him having to serve the four-match ban — a fairly ridiculous punishment — over feedback he made in a social media publish on the finish of final season.
Motherwell have been additionally fined £5,000 by the governing physique in relation to a publish concerning the fall-out from the sport in opposition to Celtic at Fir Park in Might.
It’s understood that they’re contemplating their place and whether or not they have any grounds to take authorized motion.
Frankly, good luck to them. Problem the method. Scottish soccer wants golf equipment prepared to be sturdy and maintain the SFA to account, moderately than a meek acceptance of edicts from on excessive.
Former Motherwell midfielder Elliot Watt’s huge ban will not observe him to Turkey
For all that Watt might have moved on to pastures new, and for all that final season might now be a distant reminiscence, this complete episode stinks to excessive heavens.
All of it goes again to the stoppage-time penalty awarded to Celtic for the alleged handball in opposition to Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson.
It was a extremely contentious determination to say the least, and one which dramatically modified the permutations of the title race heading into the ultimate day.
There isn’t any sense in going over outdated floor and analysing the choice itself. As a substitute, let’s strip it again and take a look at what’s occurred since.
Watt branded it as ‘the worst VAR determination in historical past’ in a publish on his social media account.
He was not alone in that evaluation. Gary Lineker took the identical view, as did thousands and thousands of others on social media as footage of the incident went viral.
Watt merely expressed an opinion. In their very own social media publish, Motherwell mirrored the exasperation of their assist, and maybe the broader soccer public.
The SFA have chosen to hammer them. Make no mistake, this isn’t self-discipline. Neither is it wholesome. It’s suppression, a unadorned try to silence dissent in opposition to a failing system.
The identical could possibly be mentioned of the SFA’s determination to ban Michael Stewart from Hampden final season after he repeatedly criticised the usual of refereeing.
The place are they going with this? What are they seeking to obtain? Can they not recognise the optics of how unhealthy this appears?
The fallout from Fir Park incident involving Sam Nicholson and a late penalty award rumbles on
The SFA additionally took a flamethrower to one and all on the finish of final season after John Beaton’s private particulars had been leaked on-line.
At no level did they pause for a second and have interaction in a interval of self-reflection. There was no acceptance or recognition of there being an issue.
Everybody is aware of our referees aren’t adequate, and that using VAR in Scottish soccer is deeply flawed. Everybody bar the SFA, it could appear.
What’s most intriguing is the truth that Derek McInnes nonetheless has a cost hanging over him and a disciplinary listening to nonetheless to come back.
Given the precedent that has been set, we will safely assume that McInnes will begin the brand new season serving a touchline ban. Fairly a prolonged one, too.
While answerable for Hearts, McInnes branded the choice to award the aforementioned penalty to Celtic as ‘disgusting’.
He additionally claimed that his staff have been ‘up in opposition to everyone’, given among the choices which had gone in opposition to them over the ultimate weeks of the season.
His feedback have been far stronger and extra controversial than something Watt mentioned. The punishment, one can solely assume, will mirror that.
The SFA’s stance on that is fairly clear. No participant shall criticise officers in a way suggesting ‘bias or incompetence’ or impinge on their character.
On paper, it sounds cheap — defend the officers from abuse. In apply, it has turn out to be a blanket to smother legit frustration.
The message from Hampden is obvious: maintain quiet, or else. This can be a dictatorship whereby the expression of legitimate issues is met with a heavy hand.
Scottish soccer has wrestled awkwardly with VAR since its introduction in 2022, with debates over consistency, the brink for intervention, and the human aspect that also underpins it.
New Rangers supervisor Derek McInnes is predicted to land a heavy punishment from the SFA
Willie Collum’s defence of the Motherwell determination in his assessment did little to quell the storm. If the SFA’s personal head of refereeing should publicly justify choices which have sparked international outcry, maybe the difficulty lies deeper than one participant’s tweet.
But moderately than tackle systemic questions round officiating requirements, transparency in VAR protocols or the stress on referees, the SFA have opted to show the entire thing right into a diktat.
The SFA will little question declare that is about defending the integrity of officiating. Nonsense. It’s about defending referees from correct accountability.
Steven McLean was the referee who didn’t award Hearts a penalty in a 1-1 draw in opposition to Motherwell within the dwelling straight of the title race, a choice Collum later admitted had been fallacious.
McLean’s reward? To take cost of the Scottish Cup closing. Clearly.
It was completely preposterous. So long as Scottish referees proceed to fail upwards, it’s tough to see significant change coming to fruition.
The SFA are defending the indefensible. This new coverage of searching for to silence any dissent is one that ought to concern us all.
Broader questions linger. What constitutes acceptable criticism? Is each post-match grumble now honest sport for sanction? Will we see managers decreased to boring platitudes, whereas real points round consistency and refereeing requirements go unaddressed?
The hazard is that the concern of punishment may override honesty. That serves nobody: not gamers, not followers, not the officers themselves who may profit from constructive dialogue moderately than enforced silence.
As the brand new season approaches, the SFA has a possibility to mirror. The sanctions handed out to Watt and Motherwell, and the approaching McInnes verdict, may outline their method to governance for the foreseeable.
Soccer with out debate and opinion is a soulless prospect. No one must be muzzled for expressing an opinion. It’s a actuality none of us must be prepared to entertain.
