Honest Mistakes on the way out as Scottish Football looks to VAR

VAR may be far from perfect but the news that it is coming to the Scottish Premiership and the latter stages of the cup competitions should be good news for the Celtic support who quite frankly have never been paranoid enough when it comes to Scottish refereeing decisions that are commonly known as ‘Honest Mistakes”.

VAR has cut it teeth in leagues like the Premier League in England where it didn’t have its troubles to seek last season and was widely criticised for some crazy off-side decisions, strange penalty incidents and long delays in determining the outcome of various incidents within matches.

However by the time the delayed European Championships took place in the summer, these teething troubles appeared to have been ironed out and the system worked pretty much to everyone’s satisfaction.

Honest Mistakes are nothing new, watch this…

Celtic benefited from a VAR decision for the opening goal in the recent match against Real Betis in the Europa League when Albian Ajeti bundled the ball over the line but the referee ruled it out, presumably for hand ball. VAR checked the call and the initial refereeing decision was overturned, goal to Celtic.

On the UEFA website ahead of the game the match official details were given as follows:

Match Officials: Referee Fran Jović CRO. Assistant referees Hrvoje Radić CRO and Luka Pušic CRO. Fourth official Mario Zebec CRO

Video Assistant Referee Bastian Dankert GER. Assistant Video Assistant Referee Stéphanie Frappart FRA

This is exactly how it should be done in Scottish football and Celtic really should be awake to this. The idea that we have three retired former reference who remain nameless as is the case in the SFA Disciplinary reviews just isn’t acceptable.

 Albian Ajeti of Celtic shocked that his goal had been disallowed but VAR corrected the referees mistake in the match against Real Betis. Photo Joaquin Corchero

The difference that VAR will make to Celtic, probably more than any other team will be significant. The Ibrox fans are against it, of course they are. They sneer about it being retrospective so that Dundee Utd could have got that penalty on Saturday. Maybe it should go back a little bit further and look at the barge on Starfelt that allowed the penalty claim incident to occur seconds later. VAR would have called that as a foul to Celtic and not a penalty to Dundee Utd.

Celtic have nothing to fear and everything to gain by VAR. It’s implementation will dramatically reduce the Honest Mistakes – what’s not to like!

The Scottish FA provided this update on VAR coming into Scottish football on their official website today.

The Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League will co-host a meeting of Scottish Premiership clubs at Hampden Park with a view to introducing VAR for all men’s top-tier matches in the Scottish Premiership and latter rounds of cup competitions.

Howard Webb, who refereed the 2010 UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup finals, will present on the evolution of the technology since its inception and introduction into the Laws of the Game in 2018.

Webb is General Manager of the Professional Referee Organisation in Major League Soccer and was initially in charge of implementing VAR in the United States.

The meeting will take place on Friday 8 October and give Premiership clubs the opportunity to debate the full introduction of VAR.

VAR was used throughout UEFA EURO 2020 including matches at Hampden Park, with Goal Line Technology in place for Scottish Cup and Premier Sports Cup matches at the national stadium since December 2020.

The system will be used in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League group stagse, the UEFA Women’s Champions League from the quarter-final stage onwards, the remainder of the European Qualifiers programme and play-offs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the UEFA Women’s EURO tournament in England next summer.

19.04.2015. Scottish Cup. Semi Final. Inverness Caledonian Thistle versus Celtic. Josh Meekings blocks Leigh Griffiths goanward bound header on the line with his hand.

A total of 152 stadiums in all of UEFA’s 55 member associations throughout Europe will be certified for the use of the VAR system. To meet the increased number of matches, an overall total of 120 VARs from 27 countries will be trained in readiness.

The international window in September will see VAR in operation for 75 European Qualifiers matches over an eight-day period. The Scottish Senior Referees’ Association are in favour of its implementation, with match officials such as Willie Collum, Bobby Madden and John Beaton part of the pool of VARs.

The Scottish FA are prepared to underwrite the training costs for match officials and the SPFL will use the video conference to garner the views of their Premiership members.

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “VAR has been under discussion by the Scottish FA’s Professional Game Board since its introduction into the Laws of the Game in 2018. Scottish football took the view that it was be preferable to see the technology be refined, overcome inevitable teething problems and, naturally, become more cost-effective.

“VAR is here to stay and in a short period its implementation has advanced significantly, while its set-up and maintenance costs have reduced. We are now at the point where we need to discuss and ideally agree on its introduction into Scottish football.

“The Scottish FA believes it is necessary for the evolution of our domestic game, to provide additional support to our match officials and also to maximise their potential on the domestic, European and international stages.”

Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, said: “Given the costs involved and the potential effects on the natural flow of the game, it was always a sensible decision to monitor the introduction of VAR in other competitions before considering implementation in the cinch Premiership.

“Now that there has been a meaningful bedding-in period in several leagues, now is a good time to look again at the benefits of the technology. We are keen to hear the views of the clubs, officials and fans and look forward to discussions over the next few months.”

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

2 Comments

  1. Well seeing they have waited until the end of the marching season so the guys viewing the screen will be free at the weekend to work.

  2. Personally I can’t see Scottish football benefiting from the introduction of VAR if the pool of VAR judges are from the same pool of Scottish referees who have been responsible for the “Honest Mistakes” they will simply close ranks and support their Orange order and Masonic pals. What I see happening is likely to be VAR being used at every opportunity to give any and every advantage to Rangers regardless of which team the might be playing but especially when playing Celtic. I hope I am proved wrong but I will not hold my breath. HH COYBIG.