Catholic Church Calls for Dallas Email Transparency, BBC New, November 24, 2010

Catholic Church Calls for Dallas Email Transparency

BBC New
November 24, 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_prem/9225458.stm

BBC Scotland has seen the email sent from the account of Hugh Dallas

The Catholic Church want the Scottish Football Association to sack head of refereeing Hugh Dallas if he sent an "offensive" email about the Pope.

SFA chief Stuart Regan has investigated an email seen by BBC Scotland that was forwarded from Dallas's account on the day of the Pope's visit to Scotland.

The email contains an image of a children's school crossing sign and makes reference to the Pope's visit.

The Church asks that the outcome of the SFA investigation be made public.

Catholic Church spokesman Peter Kearney urges Regan to act urgently to maintain the SFA's integrity by requesting confirmation that should the allegation be proved against Dallas he will be removed from his post.

Kearney insists the email was "totally unprofessional, gratuitously insulting to the Pope, deeply offensive to the Catholic community of Scotland, and an incitement to anti-Catholic sectarianism."

The letter goes on to say that the content of the message "is clearly a matter of some concern to the Catholic Church in Scotland" and asks for confirmation that "should the allegation be proved against Dallas, he will be removed from his post."

The email sent from the SFA account belonging to Dallas contained no text, but included an image attachment of a school crossing sign with a silhouette of an adult holding a child's hand and the word "Caution".

Beneath the sign, added text makes reference to the Pope's visit on 16 September.

In response to media reports about the email, the SFA chief executive said in a statement released on 10 November: "I can confirm I have looked into the circulation of the email reported in the media at the weekend.

"Let me state categorically that I do not condone the transmission of any email content that might cause offence to anyone.

"I have spoken with staff and the matter will now be dealt with internally, in line with the Scottish FA's Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy."