The referee who awarded Celtic a controversial penalty in their 3-2 win over Motherwell in the Premiership title race has needed police protection \u200bafter his personal details were leaked online, the Scottish FA said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Police Scotland said a 19-year-old man has been arrested and charged “in connection with a data protection offence”.<\/p>\n
The penalty was awarded deep in \u200badded time when, after a \u200cVAR check, referee John Beaton adjudged Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson to have handled the ball even though no Celtic player appealed.<\/p>\n
Kelechi Iheanacho netted the spot-kick that kept the title race alive, \u200cwith only one point separating Celtic and leaders Heart of Midlothian heading into \u2060the final day.<\/p>\n
The teams meet at Celtic Park tonight at 9:30pm AEST (11:30am \u200cGMT).<\/p>\n
“John Beaton and his family spent \u200blast night (Thursday) at home \u200cunder police surveillance following a leak of personal details online,” the Scottish FA said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The Scottish FA condemns in the strongest possible terms attempts to compromise the safety of match officials.<\/p>\n
“Such vigilantism, motivated by decisions perceived to be \u200bright \u200cor wrong on a field of play, is a scourge on our national game and we are grateful to Police Scotland for their swift intervention.”<\/p>\n
The \u2060arrested man is due to appear at \u200cHamilton Sheriff Court at a \u200clater date.<\/p>\n
“A 19-year-old man who was earlier arrested, has now been charged in connection with \u200ca data protection offence, following a complaint of personal information being shared online relating to a Scottish football official,” a Police Scotland statement \u200csaid.<\/p>\n