DOUGLAS Ross has been paid more than £11,000 for his third job as an assistant referee over the current football season, The National can exclusively reveal.
The Scottish Tory leader returned to running the line in July last year, after more than 18 months out injured, and has raked in cash from 31 different matches during the 2022-23 season so far.
Ross logged a combination of match fees and expenses, claiming £4.95 on top of his pay for the match between Elgin City and Queen of the South in July 2022, the first game he refereed following his return.
The MP for Moray, and MSP for Highlands and Islands, has come under fire for his additional work as a linesman. He previously had to apologise for missing a VJ Day memorial to officiate a Kilmarnock vs St Johnstone match in 2020.
And now, we can reveal that the Scottish Tory leader has been paid a total of £11,490.57 for 31 matches in the 2022-23 season.
Ross was paid £6454 in match fees and £4147.65 in expenses by the Scottish Football Association (SFA), according to both his MSP and MP register of interests.
There were also two matches, St Johnstone v Hibs and Dundee United v Ross County, which Ross had logged on his MP register, but not at Holyrood.
The Tories said that there are differences between the procedures for both parliaments, with Westminster allowing the declaration of expected fees, whilst Holyrood only allows payments already made. He was paid £445 for both games.
Ross’s most lucrative matches were Kilmarnock vs Hibs where he was paid £735.75, St Mirren vs Livingston (£725.90), Motherwell vs Hibernian (£717.80), and Motherwell vs Rangers (£715.55).
During a Scottish Cup clash between Celtic and St Mirren, the Green Brigade group unfurled a huge banner while the opening goal of the game was checked by VAR. It read: "VAR DECISION: DOUGLAS ROSS IS A C***".
Ross was paid £649.20, £380 in match fees and £269.20 in expenses, for running the line at the game.
His smallest earners were the Elgin City vs Queen of the South game in 2021, where he was paid £110.95, and £171.35 each for Peterhead vs Airdrieonians and Peterhead v Montrose.
The Scottish Tory leader was paid the higher rate of a £445 match fee for seven games, but also logged nine games where the match fee was £173, and seven where the fee was £107.
He ran the line at three games for a match fee of £89, and one game each for payments of £106, £280, and £380.
The highest amount in expenses Ross was paid was £290.75 for the Kilmarnock vs Hibs match, followed by £270.55 for Motherwell vs Rangers.
Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Greens spokesperson for sport, told The National: “While our MSPs are all focused on helping to run the country, Douglas Ross is running the line at football games.
“The UK Government is consistently being caught offside, always scoring own goals and it is clear from the most recent polling that for the Tories, the electorate think it's all over.”
Ross has previously been exposed for not declaring £7000 worth of earnings from 16 football games, and was forced to apologise in November 2021 after he failed to register a 17th match where he was paid £445.
The Scottish Tory leader did, however, manage to remember to claim almost £93 on the same day through his MP expenses.
Previously, Ross was reported to the SFA for “brazenly” attempting to use his football connections to woo voters.
Ross is paid £86,584 for his role as an MP. He gets a third of the £67,662 MSP salary, approximately £22,554, due to already being an MP, and donated his first monthly pay to a local charity.
The Scottish Tory leader said he would continue to donate his MSP salary to good causes. He made no assertions about his pay as a linesman, however.
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “Douglas has declared all these earnings in line with Parliamentary guidelines and the recent games that are outstanding on the MSP register will be updated on time.
“After a long spell out with injury, Douglas has enjoyed running the line at grounds up and down Scotland this season.
“He receives the standard renumeration for doing so.”
