FINE START, BUT GIVE US MORE!
Collum’s VAR review was so informative it needs to be broadcast on weekly basis
WILLIE COLLUM’S long-awaited talk-in over the nuts and bolts of VAR and the role it plays in affecting matchdays offered no lack of valuable answers. It left one residual question, though. Why has it taken us just short of two years to get to this point?
Can’t everyone see the benefits of making this kind of thing part of the staple diet of the lunatic whirl of Scottish football rather than just an occasional period of sober reflection?
Wouldn’t we be in a better place if this had come into being a lot sooner, considering video technology officially arrived in the Premiership in October 2022? Why can’t it be a weekly thing? Even more regular than that? Maybe even part of the live TV experience in time.
Sure, that’s running before you can walk. Particularly here, where even getting VAR introduced in the first place moved at the pace with which a glacier carves out a fjord. However, no-one can deny that ‘The VAR Review’, an SFA-produced look back at contentious decisions during the first four weeks of the season that will now run every month, is a positive step in opening a door towards everyone’s understanding of the national game.
It needed admissions of error, which duly came from SFA refereeing chief Collum. Celtic should have had a penalty in a 4-0 win over Kilmarnock on the opening day when Robby McCrorie poleaxed Kyogo Furuhashi. Likewise Dundee United in the 2-2 derby draw at Tannadice when Luke Graham handled the ball and referee David Dickinson and his team let him get away with it.
THOSE were the headline mistakes. Collum also conceded, though, that Matthew MacDermid’s body language was bad when he felt, wrongly, that Cyriel Dessers had fouled Jack Sanders before scoring in Rangers’ 2-0 Premier Sports Cup win over St Johnstone — eventually letting the goal stand after a pitchside review.
He admitted Killie’s Danny Armstrong should never have been yellow-carded against St Johnstone for simulation when official Chris Graham felt he’d dived under a tackle from Andre Raymond.
Prior to Dessers scoring in a 6-0 Rangers win over Ross County, Tom Lawrence also committed a clear foul on Connor Randall that referee Ross Hardie missed. Quite why Hardie appeared to be telling Lawrence not to commit to the tackle remains a mystery, but the explanation of why Dessers’ effort was allowed to stand cleared up a massive issue.
Footage of that goal and the Armstrong booking — along with Collum’s run-throughs of what unfolded — were really informative. These were not cases of a decision being right or wrong, as such. They explained loopholes, almost, which mean infringements can happen on the field, but that VAR protocol has no way to rectify them because of fears it will end up completely re-refereeing the game.
For example, Armstrong went down just outside the box, Graham booked him and VAR concluded that he had, indeed, been fouled. However, under the rules, VAR cannot overturn that decision. If inside the area, a penalty would have been awarded and the card rescinded, but, as Collum termed it, ‘a quirk in the protocol’ punished the Killie man.
With regard to Dessers’ goal against County, we all now know exactly what APP (attacking phase of play) means. Yes, Lawrence’s challenge on Randall should have been picked up. However, the VAR team felt there had been a sufficient number of passes between the missed foul and Dessers’ conversion that it should not be considered as taking place in the same phase.
Sure, there are always going to be issues of subjective judgment involved in VAR decisions, particularly with handball or even what constitutes one phase of play from another. However, knowing the parameters the officiating team are working within should be useful to educate interested fans trying to figure out why seemingly unfathomable outcomes can happen.
Collum spoke of the ‘high threshold’ he is seeking for VAR interventions. He used footage of Celtic’s James Forrest going down under minimal contact against Hibs as an example and explained why a Connor Barron ‘handball’ against Hearts was not a penalty — because his arm was not away from his body and had not made his shape bigger.
Everyone knows refereeing in this country has to improve dramatically. Collum admits it himself. He spoke about referees being coached to be more ‘dynamic’, to get about the field more, get into better positions to see key moments.
However, one of the big takeaways from his half-hour appearance was that, while steps are put in place to raise standards, showing the circumstances in which decisions are made will allow people to see things from the whistler’s side of the fence.
IT was great to hear official audio, too. Actually see how the VAR system works. It also cleared up claims from St Johnstone players after that Premier Sports Cup game with Rangers that MacDermid had blown his whistle for a foul by Dessers — and left himself unable to backtrack and award the goal. He didn’t!
But those 33 minutes last night felt like no more than an appetiser. This stuff should be made an intrinsic part of the sport. Quickly. We shouldn’t have to wait four weeks for incidents that everyone’s talking about to be reviewed and explained.
Why can’t we have refs mic’d-up during live games to explain decisions and reviews in real time? Why can’t officials be interviewed by media after the final whistle to clarify issues? Couldn’t ‘The VAR Review’ come out every Sunday or Monday with Collum — or whoever — running the rule over the weekend’s big decisions?
Last night was a good start, but it could go a lot further. Surely everyone from fans and players to TV personalities and the refs themselves can see why that would be a huge positive.