Beaton put under police surveillance, say SFA

The Scottish FA say referee "John Beaton and his family spent last night at home under police surveillance following a leak of personal details online" and have urged "tolerance and perspective to prevent any further, unthinkable escalation".

Beaton has faced criticism following the award of a late penalty, which was converted, in Celtic's 3-2 Wednesday win at Motherwell. The incident at Fir Park, which involved VAR, was the latest in a series of controversies involving decisions by referees as the Scottish Premiership title race reaches its conclusion.

Celtic's win kept them within a point of leaders Hearts and those two sides meet at Celtic Park in Saturday's final top-six fixtures.

"The Scottish FA condemns in the strongest possible terms attempts to compromise the safety of match officials," said the SFA, which organises refereeing in the SPFL.

"Such vigilantism, motivated by decisions perceived to be right or wrong on a field of play, is a scourge on our national game and we are grateful to Police Scotland for their swift intervention.

"As we approach what should be an exciting finale to the season, we ask those who have personalised and hyperbolised their opinions, those who have sought the easy way out by attributing defeats to perceived refereeing errors, and those who have approved incendiary statements and posts to reflect on their contribution to creating an environment of intimidation, fear and alarm."

'Hysterical media narrative'

The SFA cited those they see as responsible for an escalation in tensions.

"We are also clear, sadly, that this is the inevitable consequence of the heightening criticism, intolerance and scapegoating demonstrated this season by media pundits, supporters, official supporters' groups, clubs, players, managers and former match officials," they said.

"We do not make that point lightly as the national association. Yet it is an inconvenient truth. Those who have sought to apportion blame and conspiracy towards match officials to deflect from defeats or perceived injustices throughout the season have contributed to an environment that puts the safety of our staff and match officials in jeopardy.

"This is the consequence of a hysterical media narrative, fuelled by irresponsible knee-jerk post-match media interviews, commentary and official social media posts.

"The cumulative effect impacts on our ability to provide enough referees to service our game at all levels. When it compromises the safety and wellbeing of our most senior match officials, enough is enough."

The SFA insisted their officials "are not infallible".

And they added: "Mistakes will be made on the field, and subjective calls made in front of the VAR monitor, just as managers will pick the wrong team, goalkeepers concede soft goals and strikers miss from five yards out. Yet the reaction to these inevitabilities could not be more contrasting.