May 15 (Reuters) - The referee who awarded Celtic a controversial penalty in their 3-2 win over Motherwell in the Premiership title race has needed police protection after his personal details were leaked online, the Scottish FA said on Friday.
The penalty was awarded deep in added time when, after a VAR check, referee John Beaton adjudged Motherwell's Sam Nicholson to have handled the ball even though no Celtic player appealed.
Kelechi Iheanacho netted the spot-kick that kept the title race alive, with only one point separating Celtic and leaders Heart of Midlothian heading into the final day
The teams meet at Celtic Park on Saturday (1130 GMT).
"John Beaton and his family spent last night (Thursday) at home under police surveillance following a leak of personal details online," the Scottish FA said in a statement.
"The Scottish FA condemns in the strongest possible terms attempts to compromise the safety of match officials.
"Such vigilantism, motivated by decisions perceived to be right or wrong on a field of play, is a scourge on our national game and we are grateful to Police Scotland for their swift intervention."
The Scottish FA blamed a "hysterical media narrative" that was "fuelled by irresponsible knee-jerk post-match media interviews, commentary and official social media posts" for putting Beaton and his family in danger.
"Referees are not infallible. Mistakes will be made on the field, and subjective calls made in front of the VAR monitor," it added.
"Yet the reaction to these inevitabilities could not be more contrasting. What happened yesterday is not an isolated incident. There are many examples of match officials being placed in harmful situations."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
