27 Feb 2008Smith: lay off referees

Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the Scottish FA, has called for more respect to be shown to referees.

Smith's plea comes following a weekend which saw Motherwell players react angrily when referee Craig Thomson allowed play to continue - and opponents Hearts to score - even after David Clarkson had received a knock to the head.

St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson was equally indignant following the decision of Eddie Smith to award the free kick which resulted in Shunsuke Nakamura scoring a winner for Celtic in the match at Love Street.

"I feel that there has been a little bit of momentum built up against referees," Smith said.

"Referees have a very difficult job to do and we want to try to encourage people to become referees because without them we don't have a game.

"So I think they deserve a lot more respect than they have been given, all through the different levels."

He believes that, while it is obvious that referees sometimes make mistakes, they should not be singled out and blamed as they already know themselves if they have done wrong.

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