Scottish football looks like it is heading for a reset of some sort in terms of refereeing after another shambolic display from one of the SFA’s top men.
David Dickinson was the man in the middle as Rangers took on HIbernian at Ibrox and it’s fair to say that he certainly wasn’t a homer.
Drop balls seem to be a rare occurrence in football nowadays and yet the game seemed to be littered by them due to Dickinson’s control of the game in what was the latest in a long line of poor officiating displays – he also ignored the laws with those too.
David Dickinson has shocker as Rangers get nothing out referee
Andrew Dallas was on VAR duties, and he wasn’t much better.
He did well to draw Dickinson’s attention to the elbow on John Souttar that led to the award of the penalty, however, what happened next would do amateur referees a disservice.
Scott Wright reacted quickest to the rebound but the goal was disallowed because the Gers winger was adjudged to hace strayed into the penalty area.
If Wright is in the area, what about the other four Hibs players who are either in line or ahead of him?
This is the picture that they used to make the call.
How could Dallas and the rest of the VAR team possibly decide that Wright is the furtherst forward here?
This isn’t the biggest problem though.
The VAR team informed Dickinson about the situation only for the ref to give Hibs a free-kick.
What should have happened was that Rangers got to take the penalty again because there were Hibs players encroaching too.
It is these basic decisions that Scottish referees get wrong time after time and it is so frustrating.
Dickinson, overall, had a very questionable afternoon.
Every 50/50 seemed to go to Hibs, whilst the away team seemed to be allowed to check Rangers players off the ball, almost at will.
If a Rangers player so much as looked at a player in green and white, it was a free-kick to the opposition.
For example, Rangers had the ball in Hibs box when Chris Cadden stayed on the ground.
Verdict?
He gave the ball to David Marshall rather than Rangers getting the ball back.
Are the refs biased? No.
But they certainly don’t do themselves any favours when they put in this sort of performance.
That referees favor Rangers must be the worst conspiracy ever.
