Burley calls for officials to show more common sense

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS boss George Burley today accused officials of trying to take players' enjoyment out of football.

The Gorgie chief is still bemused by the "ridiculous" booking picked up by Rudi Skacel after the midfielder's equaliser against Celtic at Parkhead and has urged referees to show more common sense in handling such situations in the future.

The Czech Republic internationalist was yellow carded by Dougie McDonald for kissing his badge in front of the main stand as he ran back to the half-way line after cancelling out Craig Beattie's opener in the top-of-the-table showdown.

McDonald cautioned the Hearts star for an inflammatory gesture on the say-so of assistant referee Tom Murphy, much to Burley's annoyance.

Clearly still irked by the decision three days after the match, the Hearts boss said: "The thing which frustrated me was that the referee was five yards away from Rudi after he scored and didn't take any action.

"Why, then, can a linesman who was 50 yards away put his flag up and instruct the referee that the player should be booked?

"The referee didn't see anything wrong with what Rudi did and was about to start the game when he noticed the flag.

"It was ridiculous and just needed a bit of common sense.

"I think it is because it was Celtic Park and there was just a small section of away fans and the remainder of the ground was full. Rudi kissed his badge, that's all.

"It wasn't as if he gave them the finger or was trying to incite them in any way.

"He was just enjoying the moment having scored a goal. Officials are trying to take away that enjoyment with these types of decisions. If the referee thought that Rudi had done anything to incite the crowd he'd have taken action himself but because a linesman who was 50 yards away put his flag up he was forced to act."

He added: "It was over the top. I have spoken to Rudi about going off the park towards the away fans but Saturday was just ridiculous."

Explaining his decision on the SFA's website, McDonald said: "When the player scored he ran to the goal line, not off the pitch as has been suggested, and made two gestures which could have been considered inflammatory at that time.

"I was quickly on the scene and ushered him away from that area at the same time as he was being congratulated by his team-mates.

"I decided to take no further action other than to have a word with the Hearts captain, Steven Pressley, to endeavour to ensure that such actions were not repeated later in the game.

"(Assistant referee) Tom advised me that as Mr Skacel was making his way back to the halfway line he made a further gesture of kissing the badge, a gesture aimed directly at the home supporters in that area. We both agreed such conduct was certainly inflammatory and there was no option but to issue a caution."

He added: "Referees have no wish to be killjoys and prevent reasonable celebrations for scoring goals but when the possibility of crowd trouble arises we have to take action. Discussions between the police, the clubs and the SFA have taken place in recent years on this topic which is not new."

Taken from the Scotsman