Scottish referees have hit out at the “leniency” of the suspension received by Dundee United’s Nadir Ciftci.
The 21-year-old striker was given a two-match ban with one game suspended until the end of the season at a disciplinary hearing at Hampden on Tuesday night.
Ciftci had travelled through to the national stadium with manager Jackie McNamara expecting to face a charge of grabbing linesman Gavin Harris by the throat during the contentious League Cup tie against Inverness on October 29.
However, he was eventually found guilty after a three-hour hearing of an amended charge of using “excessive misconduct at a match by placing an open hand into the lower area of the assistant referee’s throat”.
McNamara had hoped that would be the end of the long-running saga, saying afterwards: “It is time to draw a line under this and move on.”
Instead, the row rumbles on with the Scottish Senior Football Referees Association expressing “deep dissatisfaction” at the length of the suspension given to Ciftci and also citing strike action taken by officials three years ago when they felt the SFA were not doing enough to protect them from undue criticism and questions over their integrity from clubs.
The association are now seeking urgent talks with the SFA to discuss the governing body’s duty of care towards match officials.
In a statement, the Association said: “We wish to express our deep dissatisfaction at the leniency of the sanction imposed by Tuesday’s Disciplinary Tribunal on a player who was found guilty of physically abusing one of our members.
“As an association, we feel this sends out completely the wrong message on issues surrounding the protection of match officials at all levels of the game in Scotland.
“Following a weekend of action taken by some of our number in 2010, assurances were given by the Scottish FA that it would take very seriously the protection of referees.
“Our association strongly believes that a thorough review of the governing body’s duty of care responsibilities to match officials should now be undertaken to ensure that referees are operating within a safe working environment.
“We will be seeking talks with the Scottish FA within the next few days to discuss matters before reporting to our members.”