RateTheRef

Saturday 31st January

Kilmarnock v Aberdeen
Referee: Lloyd Wilson
AR1: David McGeachie
AR2: Elliott Husband Powton
4th Official: Lewis Hogarth
VAR: Greg Aitken
AVAR: Duncan Williams

Livingston v Motherwell
Referee: Steven McLean
AR1: Dougie Potter
AR2: Scott Anderson
4th Official: George Calder
VAR: Andrew Dallas
AVAR: Gavin Duncan

St Mirren v Dundee
Referee: Nick Walsh
AR1: Daniel McFarlane
AR2: Ross Anderson
4th Official: Colin Steven
VAR: John Beaton
AVAR: Graeme Leslie

Dundee United v Heart of Midlothian Live on Sky Sports
Referee: Calum Scott
AR1: Calum Spence
AR2: Graeme Stewart
4th Official: Dan McFarlane
VAR: Don Robertson
AVAR: Chris Graham

Sunday 1st February

Hibernian v Rangers Live on Premier Sports
Referee: Matthew MacDermid
AR1: Ross Macleod
AR2: Douglas Ross
4th Official: Peter Stuart
VAR: Steven McLean
AVAR: Chris Graham

Celtic v Falkirk
Referee: David Dickinson
AR1: David Roome
AR2: Chris Rae
4th Official: Graham Grainger
VAR: Andrew Dallas
AVAR: Frank Connor

Saturday 31st January

Alloa Athletic v Cove Rangers
Referee: Gary Hanvidge
AR1: Sean Carr
AR2: Chris Gentles

East Fife v Montrose
Referee: Euan Anderson
AR1: Steven Traynor
AR2: Stuart Stevenson

Kelty Hearts v Hamilton Academical
Referee: Josh Hay
AR1: Gordon Crawford
AR2: Kevin Buchanan

Queen of the South v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Referee: Jamie Wilkie
AR1: David Dunne
AR2: Tommi Kerr

Stenhousemuir v Peterhead
Referee: Connor Ashwood
AR1: Paul McAvinue
AR2: Keiran Trayner

Every game all I hear around me is fans yelling at the ref about how long it takes for a throw in to be taken. Granted there is an occasional booking, grabbing random meaningless figure maybe 1 throw in from 25 the yellow card comes out, the other 24 continue with the all too usual faff of, hand the ball over over to a team mate 3/4 times, stroll casually up the touchline, hand the ball to a team mate when sent back by the ref, change the ball over, have a little wipe with a towel or shirt, stroll the other way down the touchline, hand ball to team mate who's already got a different ball, wipe both with a towel, while deciding which ball to use, give one ball to a ball boy/girl, the other to a team mate and ask a different ball boy/girl for a ball. Meanwhile I've nipped out of the ground, gone to costa over in Poole, got a coffee, back to Bournemouth, snuck back into the ground, drunk my coffee and still the throw hasn't been taken!

I disagree.  In my view, the eight-second countdown has been a clear success in speeding up the game.  I see no reason why a similar approach should not be applied to ball-out-of-play restarts.  The proposed sanction (awarding possession to the opposition) would be straightforward and proportionate. Some consideration would be needed regarding when the countdown begins but apart from that I see no significant issues.

I maybe didn’t word my point very well earlier on. I think the eight second countdown has been a great success this season and I’m fully supportive of it. Before this season goalkeepers knew they could almost hold the ball for as long as they wanted to, as no referee was going to give an indirect free kick in the penalty area against them for it. So it has undoubtedly sped that side of things up hugely.
However I don’t see the same issue for other restarts. If a player takes an excessive amount of time over it then they get a caution. Could this be enforced a lot more - yes, and even more so if a player was to receive a second caution for it.
But by putting a certain time limit on it I just see it creating other issues instead. At an elite level something like “how come Team A got to take 16 seconds for a throw but we got one overturned after 10 seconds?”. Or at grassroots level the ball gets booted a mile away and you get an opponent nagging in your ear “come on 8/10/12 seconds ref”. If the answer is “well the referee would judge it” then I’d say that’s the same as just now, so why not just enforce it a lot more?
If this was brought in and ended up being a success then I’d be quite happy to be wrong though. This time last year I didn’t like the idea of an eight second countdown at all, yet I’m now fully won round to it and see it as a massive success, as mentioned previously. My reservations were more around the image it created and drawing unnecessary attention to referees though as they count down. The idea behind it was always good.

Quarter Finals

Tuesday 27th January

Arbroath v Airdrieonians P-P
Referee: Colin Steven
AR1: Craig Ferguson
AR2: Elliott Husband Powton

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Stenhousemuir
Referee: Peter Stuart
AR1: Gordon McCabe
AR2: Steven Wilson

Queen’s Park v Raith Rovers Live on Premier Sports
Referee: Sean Murdoch
AR1: Graham McNeillie
AR2: Chris Gentles
4th Official: Joel Kennedy

St Johnstone v Ayr United Live on BBC Alba P-P
Referee: Dan McFarlane
AR1: Paul McAvinue
AR2: Kevin Buchanan
4th Official: Jamie Wilkie

Friday 23rd January

Arbroath v Greenock Morton Live on BBC Scotland
Referee: Ryan Lee
AR1: Ross Macleod
AR2: Liam Duncan
4th Official: Connor Ashwood

Saturday 24th January

Airdrieonians v Ross County
Referee: Duncan Nicolson
AR1: Gordon Crawford
AR2: Michael MacDermid

Partick Thistle v Ayr United
Referee: Grant Irvine
AR1: David Dunne
AR2: Kevin Buchanan

Raith Rovers v Queen’s Park
Referee: Colin Steven
AR1: Ross Anderson
AR2: Steven Wilson

St Johnstone v Dunfermline Athletic
Referee: David Dickinson
AR1: Calum Spence Graham McNeillie
AR2: Elliott Husband Powton

Saturday 24th January

Clyde v Spartans
Referee: Greg Soutar
AR1: Andy Milne Craig Macrae
AR2: Craig Macrae Keiran Trayner

Dumbarton v Elgin City
Referee: Peter Stuart
AR1: Paul McAvinue
AR2: Tommi Kerr

East Kilbride v Stranraer
Referee: Jamie Wilkie
AR1: Alastair Mather
AR2: Stuart Stevenson

Edinburgh City v Annan Athletic
Referee: Duncan Williams Gary Hanvidge
AR1: Graham McNeillie Paul O’Neill
AR2: Paul O’Neill Calum Haswell

Forfar Athletic v Stirling Albion
Referee: Graham Grainger
AR1: Sean Carr
AR2: Kenny Brown

Tuesday 27th January

East Kilbride v Spartans
Referee: Lewis Hogarth
AR1: Sean Carr
AR2: Jamie Andrews

Stranraer v Clyde P-P
Referee: George Calder
AR1: Brian Christie
AR2: Cameron Telfer

Quote from: arabref on Thu 15 Jan 2026 12:45

Scottish Cup rules state that up to and including the 4th round, a 4th official will be appointed to all televised games and as the SFA feels appropriate for others. In practice this means a tie between two top flight teams will also be appointed a 4th official (hence Kilmarnock v Dundee and Livingston v St Mirren have one this weekend). A 4th official is then appointed to all games from the 5th round onwards.
VAR is in operation from the 4th round onwards for all televised games at a top flight ground, or if both teams agree to pay for it in a non-televised game. As you can see from the appointments, no team really chooses to use VAR unless it’s mandatory.

Could Auchinleck refuse to have VAR as they are technically the home team and it’s been moved with really no choice?

I don’t think they can in this case, as the game is televised. In my opinion it does set a slightly dangerous precedent as the level of officiating is then entirely dependent upon which grounds are available. For example, Ayr United may not have agreed to any such request to host the game, but if it was played at Somerset Park instead (geographically a fairly reasonable option) then VAR would not have been used.
Without wishing to detract too much from the topic, it does seem particularly harsh on Auchinleck as they have hosted capacity crowds for TV games previously, against Hearts and a famous victory against Ayr United. So it’s very much things outwith their control which have led to this.

An unexpected top flight debut for Sean Murdoch last night who took over from John Beaton at halftime. I’ve not heard of anything controversial, so sounds like he did an alright job.