A Scots youth referee faces punishment after he tweeted a photo of Rangers striker Jermain Defoe on a stretcher saying "Things you love to see".
Martin Brodigan shared a photo from last night's Ibrox clash against Ross County showing the stricken Defoe as he was being substituted following an injury earlier in the evening.
He accompanied the words with a crying with laughter emoji. Charity RefsupportUK blasted the official over his "inappropriate" tweet. They wrote: "We need to put on record that it is unacceptable and highly inappropriate for a referee to post tweets celebrating any injury to a player. We wish Jermain Defoe a speedy recovery."
We need to put on record that it is unacceptable and highly inappropriate for a referee to post tweets celebrating any injury to a player. We wish Jermain Defoe a speedy recovery. pic.twitter.com/JoQKMWWRE3
— Refsupportuk (@refsupportuk) January 30, 2020
Brodigan's Twitter account has since been deleted. Fans were furious with the comments.
One wrote: "Seriously a ref posted that tweet?" Another added: "Unacceptable for anyone to post such heartless nonsense, but for a referee to do so, is even more shocking."
One commented: "If he is an SFA certified referee he should be binned".
The SFA confirmed to Herald and Times Sport that they are aware of the incident.
Mr Brodigan's comments come in the wake of Defoe being injured against the Staggies, prompting boss Steven Gerrard to admit he may have to dip his toe into the transfer market for another striker.
Defoe recently signed a pre-contract at Ibrox on a one-year deal from Bournemouth.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel