CELTIC won 2-0 yesterday in a highly contested affair at Pittodrie.

While the bhoys ran out deserved winners, we should not be distracted by the fact referee Bobby Madden chose to ignore a head knock during the SPFL game and a bad one at that.

The referees have a duty of care towards the players and Madden neglected his by letting play continue when Ajer and Simunovic clashed – leaving Ajer on the ground in pain.

Replays showed Madden was in the perfect position to spot the flash point and seen the two players heads clashing before they went down. Celtic fans couldn’t believe it when Madden, who earlier in the game pulled the play back for an innocuous foul didn’t blow his whistle to immediate allow Ajer to be treated.

Referees have tough jobs – we get that! They have a lot of things to try and keep in check on match day, but Madden’s decision to play on in this instance was a total disregard for player safety.

Luckily Ajer was okay but it could have so easily been more serious.

Celtic should ask why play was continued and the SFA must hammer it home to their officials that head knocks must be treated very seriously.

 

 

13 COMMENTS

  1. Sorry mate, you are wrong. The referee only needs to stop the game if he deems the injury is serious. All head knocks are not serious. Check the rules. There is guidance on concussion. We played Astana in the CL qualifiers and Rogic suffered a head knock. The ref decided that it wasn’t serious enough to stop play and within a few seconds we scored. Cannot have your cake and eat it! Jazza! HH.

    • And Bobby Madden is suitably medically qualified to make that sort of judgement?
      Ajer was lying prone, motionless and bleeding – if you have any semblance of medical nouse, you know that’s not a good combination and play must be stopped and medical intervention allowed immediately.
      Christ almighty, we had a boxer over the weekend telling a post-fight interviewer that he suddenly didn’t feel too well; within hours he was dead. You cannot judge what is and isn’t a serious situation when it comes to a blow to the head.
      Referees, if they want to protect the players, their own reputations and keep their liberty MUST stop the game for any and all head knocks that results in a player being unable to carry on for even the briefest of times. Failure to do so will eventually see a player seriously impeded or worse, and the referee in the dock answering why HE didn’t allow timeous medical treatment.

    • Gerry,there is a third,and a more important reason in Maddhuns eyes,Aberdeen won possession of the ball seconds after the head clash.Maddhun saw that Ajer was down and Siminovic was dazed,that was the heart of the Celtic back line wiped out and he saw this as a big opportunity for Aberdeen to get back into the game.

  2. He didn’t stop the game because Aberdeen were in possession and heading towards our goal, it was clear he was hoping the sheep were going to score and it was only when the ball went dead did he look at our injured player (which is within the rules) but a good ref would have stopped the game immediately when the players clashed heads. As Lenny was saying yesterday the refereeing in Scotland is a joke and I’ve said before we should be looking at having professional officials instead of the piss poor individuals that masquerade as referees today.

  3. Madden is not qualified to judge whether a head injury is serious or not. He deliberately chose to allow play to go on thinking that they were about to score.
    He is a midden of a referee and that wee shite Logan is a coward.

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