Egyptian under-pressure officials could follow in the footsteps of their Scottish counterparts, who decided to strike next weekend, referees' chief Mohamed Hossam said on Thursday. Scottish referees plan to boycott the weekend's league fixtures over abuse from players and managers. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) considered bringing in foreign officials to be in charge of those games but several refereeing bodies in Europe turned down their request in support for their Scottish colleagues. Egyptian referees had their integrity questioned several times this season and are constantly blamed for any stumble for the Premier League teams. Mohamed Hossam believes the pressure could eventually prompt them to imitate Scottish referees. "When the pressure goes beyond limits and the referee finds himself the subject of accusations over his honor and integrity he decides not to work to protect himself," he told FilGoal.com. "I warned before that this could happen in Egypt amid the insults that are aimed at our referees. They are now accused of taking bribes to favor certain teams. "The referees have other works to do and they earn little money from refereeing so when they also get insulted they believe that quitting this job will be better for them." Petrojet coach Helmi Toulan was recently handed a one-game touchline ban and fined EGP 10,000 for accusing referee Mohamed Farouk of being biased against his team in the 1-0 defeat at home to defending champions Ahli. Toulan later apologized for his comments but could not escape punishment, which was, however, deemed lenient by local media.
