The Final Whistle #2: "You make decisions in split seconds. If you are harbouring a bias, you wouldn't be able to do that"
Retired official Paul O’Neill laments the widespread delusion that club preference could or would affect big calls in games
By Stephen McGowan
Paul O’Neill has something to get off his chest, a statement he would have found it harder to make when he was part of Scotland’s refereeing fraternity.
“I grew up supporting Celtic,” he says candidly. “I’ve never denied that in my background, I think that it would be really silly to do that.”
Now 44, O’Neill combined a career as a senior manager in the NHS with serving as one of the SFA’s specialist assistant referees for 18 years. After 835 fixtures, refereeing has been a huge part of his life. He has been part of the team of officials for a Scottish Cup semi-final, an Edinburgh derby and a Scottish Junior Cup final. He has travelled across Europe handling youth games for UEFA, absorbed the constant rule changes from IFAB, endured the verbal grief and abuse, and lived with the frustrations of VAR.
A head of Community Health in South Lanarkshire, the fitness tests were becoming more gruelling with every passing year and in May he walked onto the pitch for his final game of Inverness against Hamilton carrying his four-year-old daughter. Erin O’Neill was born with Trimosy 21 Down Syndrome and her father now plans to use his free weekends to head up a drive to recruit officials for Scottish Para Football.
Like the decisions he made as a qualified referee, he felt retirement was the right thing to do. And this time, for once, there was no dissent.
“I can say that I never once in my career made a decision in favour of any team that was based on anything other than the laws of the game and what I believed was the correct decision,” he says in measured tones. “My sole focus was always to do better and to progress my career.
“I didn’t do the hours and hours of training, reading the laws of the game, to favour one team. I was never going to put any of that at risk for one club.”
The subject is topical because, when we meet, an online row is raging over his former colleague Sean Murdoch.
