SFA ref chief Crawford Allan missed Willie Collum 's controversial display during Rangers visit to Hibs because he was playing golf, two former whistler's have claimed.
Collum has dominated the talking points coming out of the weekend's Scottish Premiership fixture card after an action packed draw at Easter Road, which saw the Ibrox side finish the game with nine men. The home support were outraged when Collum handed Gio van Bronckhorst’s team a penalty on the stroke of half-time after spotting Rocky Bushiri’s tug on Antonio Colak.
Rangers were then left fuming midway through the second half as John Lundstram received a straight red for a trip on Martin Boyle, although the visitors can have no complaints about the instant dismissal dished out to Alfredo Morelos for a swinging arm aimed at Marijan Cabraya 10 minutes later. The visitors to Leith have launched an appeal over their midfielder's red card with the SFA and raised concerns over Collum's performance.
Ex-referees Steve Conroy and Des Roache have claimed that the Head of Referee Operations did not catch the games as he was on the golf course. The pair insists the Allan should have been at the game to monitor one of his officials during the Scottish Premiership showdown.
Conroy told the Get Involved Referee Podcast: “I don’t want kind of contract Crawford has negotiated for himself but he is the head of refereeing but there were some bloody big games coming up that he knew would throw up incident and he should have been on duty on a day like that.”
Roache also chimed in with his criticism adding: “If your job is head of referee operations, then the season is up and running, it’s operational. You know the fixtures, it’s Hibs v Rangers and Crawford's from Edinburgh, you’ve got to be at the game.
“At the very least he’s going to be at one of the games. You have to be visual. You have got be out and about because you are the one who is answerable.”
The pair also didn't hold back on Collum, insisting that the whistler may need a break from the top level of the Scottish game. Conroy said: “I think that’s as bad a performance as I have seen from Willie. He has been prone to erratic performances but that was just bad.
“For our most senior, most decorated referee to come out with something like that – it was a really bad day. That was his third Premiership game and there have been talking points in all three of them so far. Does he maybe need rest
Roache added: “I’m not calling for Willie to retire but like any player there is an end to the their shelf-life. There are more errors cropping up and we’ve just seen a few major ones in a massive game so early in the season. So I think he’s coming to the latter part of his career. But I think the SFA will stick with him and support him.”
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