Dougie McDonald

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Douglas "Dougie" McDonald (born 8 October 1965)[1] is a former FIFA International soccer referee and Scottish Category 1 referee. He officiated for 29 years; 14 years from 1997 as a Category 1 referee and 11 years from 2000 as a FIFA international referee until his retirement in 2010. His first Category 1 match was Berwick Rangers v Montrose in August 1997.

McDonald refereed two Scottish Cup Finals, the 2006 match between Hearts and Gretna, and the 2010 match between Dundee United and Ross County. He also took charge of two League Cup Finals; the 2007 Final between Hibernian and Kilmarnock, and the 2009 Final between Celtic and Rangers. McDonald refereed 221 Scottish Premier League games, five Old Firm matches, three Edinburgh Derbies, two Dundee Derbies and over 100 international matches. In addition to his four senior national cup finals, he also refereed three League Cup Semi-Finals (in 2005 between Motherwell and Hearts, in 2006 between Dunfermline Athletic and Livingston and in 2010 between Rangers and St Johnstone) and three Scottish Cup Semi-Finals (in 2003 between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee, in 2008 between St Johnstone and Rangers and in 2009 between Falkirk and Dunfermline Athletic. In 2004 he was also Fourth Official at the Dunfermline Athletic v Celtic Scottish Cup Final.

McDonald also refereed the 2002 Scottish Qualifying Cup Final (North) between Cove Rangers and Keith; the 1999 SFA Youth Cup Final between Celtic and Dundee and the 1997 Reserve League Cup Final between Hearts and Aberdeen.

McDonald also had a successful international career. He was twice Fourth Official at the Final of the prestigious Dallas Cup and he also refereed the 2009 Final between Sau Paulo and Vancouver Whitecaps. He was also involved in the inaugural experiments for the use of additional referees behind the goal, operating at one of the initial experiment tournaments in Cyprus in 2009 and in the 2009/2010 Europa League experiments where he refereed several group matches.

McDonald refereed at the inaugural UEFA Regions Cup Final tournament in Venice in 1999 where he was Fourth Official at the Final; at the UEFA U16 Championship Finals in Israel in 2000; and at the UEFA U19 Championship Finals in Switzerland in 2004.

McDonald was the referee at the famous win by Inverness Caledonian Thistle over Celtic in the Scottish Cup in 2002 which prompted the renowned headline in The Sun - "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic are Atrocious". McDonald was warned by the Scottish Football Association for failing to clearly explain a correct decision in a match played between Dundee United and Celtic in October 2010. Subsequent to the match, McDonald admitted that he had not correctly informed the match observer about how the decision had been changed.[2] McDonald was censured by the SFA Referee Committee but continued as a top flight referee.[3] Although many suspected that the fallout over the incident eventually led to the first ever Scottish football referee strike, on 27 November 2010, in fact it was the abuse targeted at William Collum and other referees after subsequent matches, plus a growing feeling of a lack of support from the SFA Disciplinary and General Purposes Committees, that led to the strike.[4] McDonald retired with immediate effect the day after the strike as media pressure on him became unwarranted.[4][5]

Since 2013 McDonald has been operating as a Referee Development Advisor in Youth and Junior football.

McDonald is a transport planner by profession.

References

  1. ↑ Birthdate confirmation: zerozero.pt website.
  2. ↑ McLauchlin, Brian (1 November 2010). "Referee McDonald says he did not initiate 'white lie'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 November 2010. 
  3. ↑ "Dougie McDonald to return as SPL referee at Easter Road". BBC Sport. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2010. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Ref McDonald retires". Sky Sports. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010. 
  5. ↑ "Referee Dougie McDonald opts to retire". BBC Sport. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010. 

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