"The Footba' Referee" is a novelty folk song by Scottish singer-songwriter Matt McGinn first released in 1966.
In the song's chorus, he says that he would rather be an engineer or a sailor, and bemoans how whenever there is some kind of problem during a match, the crowd always gives him a hard time.
When the narrator was younger, he played centre half, but consistently called fair fouls, even when they were against his team.
Two higher ups from an association football league spotted him and decided to make him a referee, as he was a "decent man".
The narrator is brought over to Italy to referee a game between Milan and Roma, however he is so disliked that the fans would bring in a helicopter to remove him from the pitch.