Rangers fine for Brown comment ‘in keeping with rules’ – SFA

The Scottish FA claims that the club’s former defender John Brown’s suspension on Rangers’ television channel “was entirely in accordance with the rules.”

Rangers claimed on Thursday that the SFA “will be closely watched” after Brown described a decision as “corrupt” in a match against Hibernian in May.

The on-field referee did not refer Nicolas Raskin, and the video assistant referee did not refer the ball over the line.

The SFA’s key match incident panel later decided that the award should have been made, and the Ibrox club believes there hasn’t been a “lack of consistency with the Scottish FA’s policing of similar incidents.”

Referee Nick Walsh and his team believed Rocky Bushiri had blocked the ball, but VAR Andrew Dallas determined there was no camera angle supporting Raskin’s effort.

Moments later, Hibs scored an equalizer through Kieron Bowie, bringing the score to 2-2.

On the club’s internal TV channel, Brown said, “I would say it is corrupt.”

Tom Miller, the commentator, responded, “Well, I’m not sure we can actually say that.” Brown continued, “Well, I am saying it.

Rangers then demanded that goal-line technology be introduced, and on Thursday, they said: “If this is the standard, they will be closely watching to ensure it is applied consistently, without exception, and without favor.

In a statement, the SFA stated that “in previous cases outlined, investigations were conducted, and the compliance officers of the time felt it appropriate to issue a censure by means of a warning letter for potential breaches that were deemed insufficiently serious to be escalated to a notice of complaint.”

We have written the panel chair’s opinions, and we will publish them in due course in the interest of transparency.

In response to the referee strike of 2010, when match officials campaigned for greater protection after receiving frequent personal criticism from clubs and supporters, the SFA added that the relevant protocol had been introduced.