We are going to provide a Scottish referees list in this article. In this sporting utopia, referees were among the most important players on the field. The referees are professionals with a lot of knowledge handling games in various seasons. Here is a list of the top 15 Scottish referees ever, including 15 of them!
Take a look at the Scottish Referees List below and check how many you already know.
15. Thomas Brown Mitchell
Thomas Brown Mitchell, who was born in Dumfries in about 1843 and died in August 1921, won the FA Cup twice. In 1887, Mitchell was appointed Blackburn Rovers’ secretary-manager.
After managing Blackburn for nine years, Mitchell resigned in 1896.
Following the club’s decision to hire a professional manager following their FA Cup loss to Millwall, Mitchell joined Woolwich Arsenal.
Mitchell is recognized as Arsenal’s first professional manager, regardless of whether Hollis properly led the team while he was in that position. Although the team would finish fifth in the Second Division in 1897–98, he and the majority of his recruits only stayed with the club for less than a season. On March 10, 1898, Mitchell gave his notice as manager of Arsenal. Mitchell visited Blackburn Rovers once more.
14. Tiny Wharton
Tom “Tiny” Wharton OBE, a Scottish football referee in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, was born in Glasgow on November 3, 1927 and passed away in Newton Mearns on May 9, 2005. He was one of the most recognizable and well-liked officials of his generation and was known as Tiny because of his enormous 6’4″ physique.
Throughout his tenure, he officiated a number of significant and well-known matches, including the Scottish Cup finals in 1961–1922, 1962–1963, 1965–1966, and 1970–1971 as well as the League Cup finals in 1960–1961, 1962–1963, 1966–1967, and 1970–1971
For his contributions to Scottish football, he received the OBE in 1990, as well as FIFA’s Order of Merit in Gold in 1992. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, referred to him as “one of the most respected refereeing officials in the world.” He left the Referee Supervisors Committee of the SFA in 2003.
13. Hugh Dallas
Hugh Dallas MBE is always on the Scottish referees list with many contributions in the process of holding the whistle. Dallas is a Scottish former football official who was born on October 26, 1957. He served as a fourth official at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final. Hugh Dallas officiated at two FIFA World Cup events, in 1998 and 2002. Dallas also served as a referee for various UEFA Champions League games, the 1999 UEFA Cup Final, and the 1996 Olympic Games.
At the conclusion of the 2004–05 Scottish football season, Dallas announced his resignation as a match referee, one year before the legal retirement age. The Scottish Premier League then hired him as a referee observer, and he was made a member of the UEFA Referees’ Committee.
Dallas continued to serve as a UEFA referee observer while also being appointed to the new Referee Certification Panel, one of two panels established in conjunction with the Referee Convention.
12. Peter Hodge
Peter Hodge (18 June 1871–18 August 1934) spent the majority of his career at Leicester City before managing Raith Rovers, Stoke City, and Manchester City (over two spells).
He is said to have recruited Matt Busby to Manchester City as a trainee.
In 1932, he re-joined Leicester, and in 1933–34, he helped the team go to its first-ever FA Cup semifinal. Nevertheless, he was forced to leave on July 31, 1934, after becoming unwell while preparing for the 1934–35 campaign. He passed away in Perth, Australia, 18 days later.
11. John Gordon
Gordon (2 February 1930 – 2000) was born in Inverness. He was chosen to serve as a referee at the FIFA World Cup in 1978. However, the Scottish FA later that year suspended him for unethical conduct.
Prior to managing A.C. Milan’s 1978 UEFA Cup match against Levski Sofia, he and assistants Rollo Kyle and David McCartney acknowledged accepting gifts from the club. Gordon officiated the home leg of a second-round contest, which the Italians won 3-0.
In Dundee, John Gordon passed away in 2000. Rollo Kyle, who passed away after officiating a game some 20 years prior, preceded him in death.
10. Craig Thomson
Craig Alexander Thomson MBE, a retired Scottish football official who officiated games from 1988 to 2019, was born on June 20, 1972. Thomson is a native of Renfrewshire’s Paisley.
Since 2002, Thomson has served as an official in the Scottish Premier League. His debut game in the league was the match between St. Johnstone and Hibernian on May 12, 2002. In 2003, Thomson was appointed a FIFA referee.
On February 18, 2004, at Windsor Park in Belfast, Norway defeated Northern Ireland 4-1 in his first international game for FIFA. The Faroe Islands vs. France match on September 8, 2004, which resulted in a 2-0 victory for France, was his next important match while playing abroad. At the conclusion of the 2018–19 season, he ended his career as a referee.
9. Charlie Richmond
Charlie Richmond, a former football official from Scotland, was born on May 13, 1968. He is a great referee on the Scottish referees list. From 2002 until 2012, Richmond officiated in the Scottish Premier League (SPL) and was listed on the FIFA list of international referees. After being passed over for SPL appointments for the 2011–12 season, Richmond resigned in April 2012.
He is an engineer by profession and has made frequent appearances on BBC Radio Scotland’s show Off the Ball.
8. Jack Mowat
John Alexander Mowat, MBE (1 April 1908 – 12 March 1995) also worked for FIFA.
He took supervision of games while serving with the Royal Air Force (RAFVR) during World War II, and in his 30s, he started working as a referee. In the 1946 Birthday Honours, he received the MBE for his military service.
The 1960 European Cup Final was played in Glasgow, and it was his final game at the age of 52. Real Madrid defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the match, and Mowat received plaudits for his handling of the situation (the highest scoring final in the history of the competition, watched by the biggest crowd).
Additionally, he presided over several games in the British Home Championship as well as one match in the 1958 FIFA World Cup (a 2-1 victory for hosts Sweden over Hungary in the tournament’s Group stage).
7. Douglas Ross
Ross is always on the Scottish referees list with many times as a referee in major football tournaments. He was born on January 27, 1983. Since 2020, Douglas Gordon Ross, a British politician, has led the Scottish Conservative Party.
Ross is a certified football official who moonlights as a top assistant referee. He assisted Willie Collum as one of the referees for the Scottish Cup Final in 2015, and he assisted Kevin Clancy in the Scottish Cup Final in 2018.
In addition to participating in international FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship qualifiers, he has run the line in multiple iterations of Scotland’s most important club match, the Glasgow derby. After being chosen to serve in the Scottish and UK Parliaments, he resumed his career as a referee.
Due to an ailment, Ross quit refereeing games in January 2021. In July 2022, when Westminster and Holyrood were both in session, he started up his refereeing career again.
6. William Collum
William Sean Collum is a Scottish football official who was born on January 18, 1979. In November 2004 and April 2006, respectively, Collum officiated his first Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League games. In September 2010, when FC Copenhagen defeated Panathinaikos 2-0, he oversaw his first UEFA Champions League match.
He has also presided over a number of high-profile international contests and UEFA Europa League games. On June 11, 2012, it was revealed that Collum has advanced to the FIFA Elite Referee level, joining Craig Thomson on the list of the top 24 referees in the world.
His notable domestic engagements are the 2012 Scottish League Cup Final, and the Scottish Cup Finals in 2013, 2015, and 2019.
5. Steven McLean
Steven McLean is always on the Scottish Referees List with many impressive achievements in his refereeing career. He is a Scottish football official who was born on April 1, 1981. McLean was chosen to officiate at the 2011 UEFA U17 European Championship after becoming a FIFA referee in 2010.
McLean oversaw a qualifying match between Spain and Croatia for the 2013 European Under-21 Championship in October 2011.
In 2015, McLean presided over the Scottish Cup semifinal between Inverness CT and Celtic and the League Cup semifinal between Aberdeen and Dundee United. In the latter match, he and his assistants received criticism for failing to spot an apparent deliberate handball by an Inverness defender in his own penalty area at a crucial moment in the contest.
When Hibernian faced St Johnstone in the League Cup semifinal in January 2016, McLean was in charge of that match.
4. Morag Pirie
Morag Pirie is the only female on the Scottish Referees List and is a Scottish association football referee who was born on June 27, 1975. She was appointed to FIFA’s Elite Development Level in 2012 and is the first female FIFA referee from Scotland.
When Pirie took charge of Huntly’s 1-0 victory over Wick Academy at Christie Park in the Highland Football League in August 2003, she made history by being the first woman to officiate a senior football game in Scotland.
When Pirie served as an assistant referee at the 2007 Scottish Challenge Cup Final in November 2007, she became the first woman to officiate at a national Cup final.
3. William Mullan
Mullan started officiating in the Scottish Division One in 1962. He was hired as a FIFA referee three years later.
Mullan was chosen to officiate a semi-final game between West Germany and Belgium at UEFA Euro 1972.
Later that year, Mullan was chosen to oversee two games at the Summer Olympics in West Germany, both at Munchen: Hungary vs. Brazil (2-2, 29 August), and F.R. Germany vs. the German Democratic Republic (3-2).
Mullan ended his career as a referee in 1973.
2. Stuart Dougal
Stuart Dougal, a former Scottish football official who was on the FIFA international list, was born on November 6, 1962. In 2004 and 2008, he officiated the Scottish Cup championship.
Dougal served as a referee for more than 100 international meetings and traveled to 38 different nations. He officiated two Uefa Intertoto Cup Finals, serving as the fourth official in the 2002 Super Cup Final between Feyenoord and Real Madrid, and served in the same role at Euro 2004.
Dougal has published a column for the Daily Record since he stopped working as a referee.
1. Mike McCurry
Thomas Michael McCurry, a former football official from Scotland, was born on June 4, 1964. He is the most impressive on the Scottish referees list. McCurry officiated the Scottish League Cup Final in 2005. McCurry lists “Minister of Christian Faith” as his primary vocation and regarded refereeing as a pastime.
The SFA ended McCurry’s career as a referee on May 18, 2009, when they left him off the list of senior officials who will oversee games in Scotland in the 2009–10 football season. He has previously served as a FIFA referee for the SFA.
At the Mosspark Baptist Church in Glasgow, he serves as senior pastor and is a Baptist. He belongs to the Glasgow Magic Circle as well.
In his free time, McCurry likes to go running and play 5-a-side football. He also serves as Teen Challenge UK’s chairman.
Conclusion
In conclusion, every top-tier referee in this Scottish referees list has earned it through hard work and perseverance. It’s crucial to respect these guys’ steely manner toward other players and spectators because it demonstrates a resolute mindset that few can sustain for a full 90-minute game.