The Scottish Football Association have suffered a huge blow ahead of the weekend's matches after Polish officials withdrew from refereeing.
Poland's referees have withdrawn from officiating this weekend
The Scottish Football Association have suffered a huge blow ahead of the weekend's matches after Polish officials withdrew from refereeing.
With Scottish referees on strike this weekend, the SFA had drafted in officials from Poland, Portugal and Israel to cover the short-fall in order to ensure top-flight matches and the Challenge Cup final went ahead.
On Thursday, the league confirmed all six SPL matches this weekend would go ahead, but they will now have to arrange additional cover after Polish officials withdrew.
The Polish FA have confirmed their officials, which include Hubert Siejewicz, Pawel Gil and Marcin Borski, are now needed for domestic matters.
"We will not be sending our referees to Scotland tomorrow because they are needed for our domestic games," confirmed Poland's FA in a statement.
"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."
It now remains to been seen whether all six SPL fixtures will still be able to go ahead as the SFA now scrambles to secure additional refereeing cover.
Brown's view
Motherwell manager Craig Brown has added his view to the debate, stating he feels Scottish whistle-blowers have gone about their stance in the wrong fashion.
The Fir Park tactician feels they should have approached the managers' and players' union or even the SFA chiefs in order to find a resolution before digging their heels in.
"It's disappointing they've taken this course of action," he told
Sky Sports News. "They've not approached the relevant authorities before taking strike action.
"They've got a union, the referees' union, but we have a managers' union. We've got a players' union. Neither associations have been approached or asked about the problem. Neither has the chairman or president of the SFA, nor has the chief executive of the SFA.
Consultations
"There are four probable sources to get a solution here. The referees have taken this action without consulting any of the four associations. I can't understand that.
"They should sit down and have some dialogue then if they feel aggrieved then take this course of action. I feel it could be a futile course of action because they'll still have to sit down and discuss it anyway.
"I'm very sympathetic towards the referees. We feel aggrieved at Motherwell as we're a non-offending team and yet we could have been penalised had the SFA not managed to resolve the situation by getting foreign referees. The referees were wrong not to sit and have constructive dialogue with the relevant authorities.
"Hearts are doing particularly well and they will bring traditionally a good following. Had the game been cancelled all the hospitality arrangements and the big crowd we'd expect on Sunday would not be there in a replayed match in midweek.
"It's nothing to do with Motherwell because we show respect to the officials at all times. We've had some harsh decisions against us and at no time have been publically complained."
