Polish refs withdraw SPL support

Polish referees drafted in to officiate Scottish Premier League games this weekend have withdrawn their support.

With Scottish referees on strike, Polish officials, along with their counterparts from Israel and Portugal, were drafted in by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to officiate the six SPL fixtures this weekend.

But on Friday, the Polish FA announced that their referees will no longer be available to help fill the short-fall.

“We will not be sending our referees to Scotland tomorrow because they are needed for our domestic games,” a statement from the Polish FA said.

“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.”

Referees from Scotland are on strike for what they believe to be consistently poor treatment by those within the game.

They are fed up with the lack of support from Scotland’s governing body for football and have refused to officiate in matches this weekend.

Portuguese and Israeli officials also agreed to referee matches to enable the weekend’s fixtures to go ahead but the latest revelations have put the six matches to be played in doubt.