Six Months of SFA Silence

Back in May of this year, with the SPL title in the balance, Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were asked to appear in front of the SFA's Review Panel to explain incidents in games against Rangers and Dundee United.

Not unreasonably Celtic asked for clarification as to how these charges were brought about, in almost every game there are questionable incidents that could be reviewed and looked at differently.

With no answer forthcoming from the SFA Celtic finally went public on October 16 to explain to their supporters that their request for clarification hadn't been answered.

An incident between Loovens and Maurice Edu resulted in a one match ban for the Dutch defender.

Mistakes are part and parcel of football, two weeks before the Celtic statement Craig Thomson appeared to admit that he should have awarded Celtic, or the away team as they were referred to in the statement issued through Hugh Dallas, a penalty in a game against Rangers on October 4.

Dallas's statement however fell short of explaining why the penalty wasn't given, was the referee unsighted or did he have a clear view and failed to notice David Weir's foul on Shaun Maloney?

These incidents apparently even themselves out over the course of a season.

The SFA rule book is comprehensive and thorough, there is a sub-paragraph and explanation for every possible action on the football pitch.

Strangely a month after going public Celtic are still awaiting a reply from the SFA for the criteria that brought Loovens and McDonald before the Review Panel.

It really should just be a quick reference to the rule book, there are general catch all clauses to cover anything not detailed in the rule book.

The longer that an answer is delayed the more suspicious it all becomes.

Celtic statement 16 October 2009: "We still do not understand the procedure by which Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were referred for review and other similar incidents in recent months have not been. The process seems to be disparate and arbitrary.
“Our objective is to ensure that these processes are applied fairly, consistently and in a transparent manner, for the benefit of all clubs and players.
“We will continue to pursue this objective and look forward to hearing from the SFA shortly."