football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
referee, currently a referee in the
SPFL
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...
and a
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
referee.
Refereeing career
Walsh's first
Scottish Professional Football League
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...
game as a referee came at the beginning of the
Scottish League Two
The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...
campaign, when he oversaw Clyde against Queen's Park.
On 22 October 2022, Walsh refereed the second
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
match with the
video assistant referee
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...
(VAR), which saw
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
beat Hearts 4–3.
Walsh was selected as the referee for the
2024 Scottish Cup final
The 2024 Scottish Cup final was the final match of the 2023–24 Scottish Cup, the 139th edition of Scotland's most prestigious knockout football competition. It was contested by Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 25 May 2024.
Back ...
between Celtic and
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
. During the match, Walsh disallowed a goal scored by Rangers for an apparent infringement on the Celtic goalkeeper. The decision was criticised by Rangers manager
Philippe Clement
Philippe Clement (born 22 March 1974) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers.
He began his professional career at Belgian clubs Beerschot and Genk be ...
, stating "''its a really big call to disallow the goal when Celtic players are grabbing and pulling my players"''.
Walsh was selected as the referee for the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
match between
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
and Qarabağ in October 2024. Walsh was heavily criticised after the match for sending off two Qarabag players. Ajax went on to win the match by 3 goals to nil. Qarabag manager
Gurban Gurbanov
Gurban Osman oghlu Gurbanov (; born 13 April 1972) is an Azerbaijani football manager and former player who manages Qarabag. He played as a forward. Starting out with local club Kur in 1988, Gurbanov had a decorated 18-year career. He scored 1 ...
stated "''I found some of the referee’s choices very questionable"''.
Following a review into refereeing decisions made in November 2024, it was found that Walsh was incorrect in his decision not to send off Celtic player Reo Hatate during a match against
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
for a dangerous challenge.
Walsh was criticised by Kilmarnock manager
Derek McInnes
Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich A ...
after a
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,eltictake it 20 yards from where the offence was, and they're way out the other side before we get a chance to settle"''.
Walsh refereed the Europa League match between
Union SG
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional football club from Brussels based in Forest. Founded in 1897 in the neighbouring Saint-Gilles, the club has played its home ...
and
Braga
Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...
in January 2025. During the match, Walsh sent off 4 players and showed a total of 12 yellow cards.
In January 2025 during a Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
, Walsh was heavily criticised for sending off Rangers player Mohamed Diomande. The VAR referee asked Walsh to review his decision at the pitch side monitor but Walsh decided not to change his mind. Following the match several commentators criticised the decision, with
Ally McCoist
Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit.
McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...
describing it as "''one of the worst decisions he's ever seen''". Premiership commentators
Alan Hutton
Alan Hutton (born 30 November 1984) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a right back.
Hutton started his career with Rangers, and won the league title in 2005. He moved to English football with Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 ...
and Michael Stewart described it as '"laughable"' and '"embarrassing'". Rangers appealed the decision and it was ultimately upheld by the review panel with the red card for violent conduct revoked.