Rangers’ Favorite Ref Strikes Again

By: Ian Rose | May 10th, 2008

Rangers took a big step toward finishing off the SPL title today, finishing off Dundee United 3-1. The real story of the game, though, was the referee, which is never a good thing. Mike McCurry is, far and away, the most controversial official in the Scottish game, and for years, Celtic supporters as well as neutrals have accused him of Rangers bias. But he keeps on refereeing, including assignments to several Old Firm derbies and a surprising number of Rangers matches overall. Now, there’s one more reason to suspect him, because in today’s match with United, he may not have been biased, but he was at the least absolutely blind.

Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Celtic fan. As an Inverness Caley Thistle supporter, I could frankly do without either of the Old Firm. They both get more than their share of questionable calls against the other ten teams in the SPL, and they both have their own part in the sectarianism that still somewhat defines Glasgow football. But even to a neutral, things with Mike McCurry never seem to add up.

The Dundee United match today was McCurry’s seventh Rangers match of the season. That’s 1/5 of Rangers’ league matches this season, reffed by one man, with a history of controversial decisions in Rangers’ favor. Just to be clear, the SPL might be a small league, but there are more than five refs. And his decisions today were dodgy at best. First, a clear penalty denied to United, then a late own goal deflection brought back for a bad offside call. The ball deflected off of a defender, who last time I checked, can’t be offside on their own goal. Those calls were the difference in the game. Earlier in the season, McCurry added to his already controversial resume by booking nine Celtic players, and two Rangers, in a 3-0 Rangers derby win.

Craig Levein, United’s manager (pictured above), had his own thoughts on the match: “We had a blatant penalty and he bottled it … If it’s not a level playing field and, if we don’t get the decisions, blatant, important decisions then what is the point of turning up?” And, my favorite from Levein, “I thought Mike McCurry had the balls to stand up and give these decisions, but he bottled it. Not only is it a penalty kick, but it’s a sending off for Davie Weir. But he didn’t want to do it because this game meant so much to Rangers.”

It remains to be seen whether Levein will be punished for his comments. Most FAs, Scotland included, are none too happy with managers that try to take over for them when it comes to disciplining referees. There might just be enough teams in the league that have previously been in his position for him to find some support. For my own part, my biggest concern isn’t this particular game, but the assignment of one ref to so many games for a team he seems to have favored in the past. It’s not Mike McCurry’s fault he was assigned this match, or any of the other Rangers matches. It’s the fault of an SFA that has made such a habit of boneheaded decisions that no one expects anything else from them. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be a ref, but doesn’t it seem prudent that he shouldn’t be officiating a higher-than-average proportion of matches for the one team he’s accused of favoring? Whether Rangers bias is at play in this match is still open to judgment, but the calls were either biased or just incompetent, and that is not much of a choice.