No help from Poles in football referees´ strike

The row over the referees’ strike in Scottish football took another twist on Friday when Polish officials said they had decided against helping out at games this weekend.

The Polish Football Federation had indicated on Thursday that they were planning on sending match officials, with Israel also confirmed and countries such as Portugal and Malta also reportedly co-operating with the Scottish Football Association.

However, as top-level refs in Scotland refused to back down on their plans to strike on Saturday and Sunday, the Poles now claim to have other commitments.

In a statement on Scottish Television’s website, www.stv.tv, a spokesperson for the Polish FA confirmed: “We will not be sending our referees to Scotland tomorrow because they are needed for our domestic games.

“We did confirm to the SFA yesterday that we would be sending a team of 12 officials but that is no longer the case. Our domestic games take place today, Friday, tomorrow Saturday and Sunday.”

In the face of the unprecedented strike called by referees to protest what they see as undeserved and over-the-top criticism of their performances by players and managers, the Scottish Football Association has turned to foreign officials to save the league programme.

All Premier League games have been allocated match officials with one SFL lower-division match receiving the services of a referee and assistant referees.

The Alba Cup Final and three Scottish Cup replays have also been allocated match officials.

It was not immediately clear what would be the consequences on these games of the Polish about-turn.