Former SFA referee Bobby Madden has defended Kevin Clancy after he refused to send off Celtic star Nicolas Kuhn following his winner against Ross County.
There was wild scenes at Dingwall after the German curled the ball into the far corner before rushing into the away end to celebrate with the fans in wild scenes. Kuhn had already been handed a booking by the man in the middle Clancy in the Scottish Premiership – and was at risk of being shown a second after celebrating with the support.
Following the full-time whistle questions were raised over the decision by the whistler to keep his cards in his pocket, with Rangers hero Kris Boyd stating that “the rules must have changed” as he was left baffled by the Celtic star swerving the second yellow.
But Madden has now stepped in to explain the call. He shared a clip of Kuhn’s Celtic celebration to social media, alongside a clip of Aberdeen’s Ante Palaversa wheeling towards the crowd after netting the late winner against Hearts on Sunday. He added a snippet of Tom Rogic heading to celebrate with the crowd at Hampden after scoring for the Hoops against the Dons back in 2017.
He wrote alongside the video: “Today. Today. 2017. I could share a clip of a player from every team celebrating in that manner and not being cautioned. Scottish football, the home of whataboutery.
“Nobody has ever wanted cautions for this. It was removed as mandatory caution over a decade ago. Referees discretion and common sense were asked for. The only consideration being if the celebration caused a safety or security risk.
“The guidance was that if you celebrated with your own fans, didn’t enter the crowd and there wasn’t a multiple pitch incursions(this is when police would expect action) as a consequence, then no caution would be issued. As ever, it would probably be better being communicated to the wider football audience that way.”
Madden also shared the IFAB rules, which state: “Players can celebrate when a goal is scored, but the celebration must not be excessive; choreographed celebrations are not encouraged and must not cause excessive time-wasting.
“Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence but players should return as soon as possible.A player must be cautioned, even if the goal is disallowed, for: climbing onto a perimeter fence and/or approaching the spectators in a manner which causes safety and/or security issues; acting in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory way; covering the head or face with a mask or other similar item; removing the shirt or covering the head with shirt.”