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The Football Show · 21 May 2026
Referees and VAR assistants in Scottish football are being intimidated at home — and the panel says the courts have a part to play. "These people should be hammered."
Andrew Dallas and John Beaton as officials who can't go about their daily life because they're scared of what's going to happen to their family. The verdict: the SPFL, the SFA, politicians and the courts should be sending a clear message to anyone who posts a referee's address, who attacks players, or who goads them at a point where it could become threatening.
Pitch invasion with sectarian abuse. Pitch invasion with attacking players. Intimidating officials at their place of work. The panel argues the answer isn't more analysis — it's accountability.
Where do you stand? Comment below — should the courts come down hard, or is football's own discipline structure enough?
Transcript:
"I also think one thing that I would say, Hugh — if there's going to be this forensic approach to analysing where there's been wrongdoing, I also think that the Scottish authorities — the SPFL, the SFA and a number of people, including politicians — should be looking and saying to the courts, let's send a message out to people who think it's OK to post a referee's address, to look back and make people's lives very, very uneasy — because they're at their place of work, trying to do a job to the best of their ability.
I think you've got to send a message out in the courts to hammer the people who have been found guilty of pitch invasion with sectarian abuse, pitch invasion with attacking players, or intimidating them, or goading them at a point where it could become threatening for a player. Referees, VAR assistants who can't go about their daily life — and I'm speaking here about the Andrew Dallas and John Beaton of the world — who can't go about their daily life because they're scared of what's going to happen to their family. These people should be hammered."
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