https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Thomson_(referee)
After observing lotsa Hibs forums hitting absolute 'meltdown' (that includes my android phone!!) soon after yesterday's SFA announcement of this Hearts supporting referee's Embro derby appointment, this really is a fitting question to ask re this particular referee.
I reckon many Hibs fans were already querying 'who he was' and 'what he was about' about 8-10 years ago. I'll kick off this debate by referring to Hibs Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2007 when a Pars player named Hamill karate kicked Lewis Stevenson just above his knee (ball nowhere in sight!) right in front of the Hampden main stand and Thomson was positioned 4 metres from the incident to Stevenson's challenge and clearly saw exactly what Hamill did in retaliation. This ref walked up to the players, totally ignored the assault and placed the ball down for a free kick to Hibs. ALARM BELLS RINGING AT THAT POINT and what followed was Steven Fletcher upended in the Pars box (a stonewall pen for all to see!!) denied by Thomson and, surprise surprise - Thomson eventually awards the winning goal/pen to the Pars v a very good and capable Hibs team at that time - just won the League Cup weeks before this match!! The plot continued very badly from that period onwards and since then, I've discovered he worked for Forth Electrical in the 1990s onwards, was a Hearts ST holder, and this was corroborated by Hibs fans who worked with him at that time and indeed, one guy who still currently works with Forth Electrical!!!
There are lotsa other critical accounts re Thomson and his highly questionable officiation at Hibs matches and the time coverage is massive TBH!! Hence the huge furore amongst thousands and thousands of Hibs fans and some particularly directed at the SFA whose officials had appeared to discreetly omit Thomson from Derby matches for the past 4 years!! Did somebody at the SFA make one huge gaffe re this decision or was it a deliberate ploy after all this time in ensuring Thomson was given 'other matches'?
After observing lotsa Hibs forums hitting absolute 'meltdown' (that includes my android phone!!) soon after yesterday's SFA announcement of this Hearts supporting referee's Embro derby appointment, this really is a fitting question to ask re this particular referee.
I reckon many Hibs fans were already querying 'who he was' and 'what he was about' about 8-10 years ago. I'll kick off this debate by referring to Hibs Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2007 when a Pars player named Hamill karate kicked Lewis Stevenson just above his knee (ball nowhere in sight!) right in front of the Hampden main stand and Thomson was positioned 4 metres from the incident to Stevenson's challenge and clearly saw exactly what Hamill did in retaliation. This ref walked up to the players, totally ignored the assault and placed the ball down for a free kick to Hibs. ALARM BELLS RINGING AT THAT POINT and what followed was Steven Fletcher upended in the Pars box (a stonewall pen for all to see!!) denied by Thomson and, surprise surprise - Thomson eventually awards the winning goal/pen to the Pars v a very good and capable Hibs team at that time - just won the League Cup weeks before this match!! The plot continued very badly from that period onwards and since then, I've discovered he worked for Forth Electrical in the 1990s onwards, was a Hearts ST holder, and this was corroborated by Hibs fans who worked with him at that time and indeed, one guy who still currently works with Forth Electrical!!!
There are lotsa other critical accounts re Thomson and his highly questionable officiation at Hibs matches and the time coverage is massive TBH!! Hence the huge furore amongst thousands and thousands of Hibs fans and some particularly directed at the SFA whose officials had appeared to discreetly omit Thomson from Derby matches for the past 4 years!! Did somebody at the SFA make one huge gaffe re this decision or was it a deliberate ploy after all this time in ensuring Thomson was given 'other matches'?