At the weekend Scottish football was treated to two decent League Cup semi finals, one saw Celtic beat a stubborn Kilmarnock side who gave their all and the other seeing Aberdeen yet again failing to hold their nerve against theRangers, the Dons once again relinquishing a well earned lead to Michael Beales ever increasingly jammy side.
There was plenty to talk about including the horrendous conditions not only regarding the weather on Saturday evening but also the state of the pitch at Hampden, which made the fact that we got two decent games even more surprising. Let’s hope the pitch is sorted in time for the final as it really was shocking.
Yet again however the weekend ends with everyone talking about VAR and referees and I have to say I am absolutely sick of it. Some may say I have a cheek as I am adding to it by writing this article but I genuinely have to get it off my chest. Endless talk about refereeing decisions is sucking the life out of the beautiful game. Once about moments of magic from skilled technicians on the park, it’s now more about the men in black both on the pitch and holed up in a room somewhere off it. It’s becoming tiresome, it really is.
Having picked up Covid the other day there wasn’t much else for me to do other than focus on football for a few days so as I lit the fire in the living room I got prepared to watch football endlessly from the comfort of my sofa for the next while. Not the worst way to spend a weekend I suppose.
Now to say I’m far from the biggest fan of English football is a huge understatement. I pretty much stopped watching the EPL years ago, ever since it became more about who has the most money than the actual football. The soulless crowds full of ‘fans’ too busy taking photos and videos on their phones rather than actually watching and getting involved in the match in front of them makes me despair.
Anyway as I was on lockdown I decided to watch the Manchester Derby. For anyone reading this who also has next to no interest in the bright lights of the Premier League, you aren’t missing much. I struggled to convince myself to continue watching after a tedious first half. I persevered however, and the game ended up pretty much being decided by a controversial decision involving whether Marcus Rashford involvement should have seen the first goal chalked off. Personally I think it should have but the point is moot. That’s not what I’m here to talk about and I don’t really care either way to be honest.
After this match and having placed a bet on the 3pm kick offs I tuned in to watch BT Sport Score over the alternative which is Sky Sports Soccer Saturday to see how my bet panned out (terribly incase you’re wondering).
BT Sport Score has Chris Sutton in the panel, the other has Kris Boyd, it was an easy choice. Something I have noticed about these shows now is that they have a former referee on hand who is often called upon to give his take on decisions. We see this man more often by the week. He must have got a good ten minutes talking about the Rashford incident earlier in the day and the panel quarrelled as most disagreed with his take.
Then on to the main event of the day. Celtic at Hampden taking on a Derek McInnes’ side which included their star striker coming back off a lengthy ten-match ban for being a sectarian bigot. Exhausted from performing star jumps earlier in the week, Kyle Lafferty only lasted until half time but thankfully had long enough to ease Celtic into a one goal lead.
This match was a good battle with the both the weather conditions and the pitch working against Celtic and the style of football they play under Ange Postecoglou. Although not a fantastic footballing spectacle it definitely was a good battle and had that excitement a semi-final should have. However the talk before, during and afterwards was mainly all about one thing. Controversial decisions.
On to Sunday and the fire was lit once again as, rather than climb the walls on day four of my lockdown, I decided to watch theRangers take on Aberdeen. Yet again all the talk after what was a good match was refereeing decisions. It’s been building in me for a while now but this weekend has tipped me over the edge. Perhaps I just need to get out of the house but I felt yesterday evening that my love of the beautiful game was ever so slightly dwindling.
I’ve been writing articles on The Celtic Star for a good while now and I love discussing and reporting on football but ever since the introduction of VAR it seems like all we talk about these days is refereeing decisions. Honestly, take a look at any football sites. Take a look at the forums and on social media. I’m sure I’m far from the only one who is part of a Celtic Whatsapp group that picks over every fine detail of refereeing decisions during a game. It’s constant and it’s depressing in all honesty.
Suddenly we all need a bachelor’s degree on the football rulebook to understand certain arguments. We have former referees becoming main panelists on football shows, former refs making a killing from writing columns in newspapers regarding decisions over the course of the weekend. As Celtic fans we await the announcement of who the referee and video referee is to be for our next game. Articles are written about it like it’s top news. When the hell did this become as newsworthy as who will miss out through injury or who is Ange dropping due to bad form? It’s mental.
On the discussion around the introduction of VAR I was dead against it from day one. I said that our inept referees do a bad enough job as it is on the park without another one trying to influence the match from a remote room somewhere. People thought it would take the controversy out of Scottish football. How wrong they were, it’s made it ten times worse. Think back, it’s not that long ago. Remember the days before VAR? Yes there were bad decisions. Yes we had controversy surrounding some decisions. Nowhere near on this scale however. Now it’s all we ever seem to talk about.
Another problem is that it slows the game too much. Then there is the whole feeling when your team scores. Celtic scored twice on Saturday and both times after initially letting out a yell of happiness I sat back and waited. Waited for Maeda to be pulled for handball. Waited for Giakoumakis to be offside. Waited for any minute reason they could find to chalk the goal off. That’s not football. It’s about seeing the ball ripple the net and letting bedlam ensue. Not staring at the referee to point back towards the halfway line before you can celebrate. The moment has gone by then.
Another thing you notice now is how scared defenders are to do the basics. They are scared to rough up attackers incase VAR spots something. They run around with their arms behind their backs incase they give away a penalty kick. I even saw a player recently slide tackle with his arms behind his back which looked utterly ridiculous. Anytime a ball gets played into the area fans automatically scream handball in the hopes that it somehow alerts VAR to check in the hope it brushes past an opposing players arm. We all do it. I’ve even found myself do it even though I have seen nothing to suggest handball just out of hope we could get a penalty. It’s sad it it’s really becoming a thing.
We need to take football back. It should be about the players, the fans, the rivalries. It shouldn’t be about referees and video technology. They should not be the most important people in the game. I wish I had the answer on how to move forward but I don’t. I doesn’t look like anyone does. The more mistakes made in these situations the more it becomes a talking point. I never thought it would get to this point but I genuinely dream that we could go back to the days when we only had to deal with one inept referee involved in the match.
Unfortunately I think football has changed forever, and not in a good way.
Conall McGinty
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Well said, Conall! Many people agree with you. We, obviously, feel that VAR is anti-Celtic – and it is difficult to argue against that contention – but there is more to it than that. It is being allowed to run the game, and as you say, we want our football back!
It can be easily done. Celtic contribute most to the cost of VAR.
Celtic should just say that we are not paying for it and it could then be unaffordable.
Why should we pay for something we don’t trust.
It is not used in the way it was intended to be used and it allows another level of cheating, as if the level we have was not enough. There is enough evidence on film to show the abuse and there is also the convenient times when it supposedly broke down. If doesn’t break down in other countries.
Last sentence should be – It doesn’t break down in other countries.
Great point made in the article is that it is being allowed to run Football.
This is not its purpose. What we need is better and non-biased refereeing, ie., referees who cannot referee games involving the club they support – the same as in England.
Great article Connal , for me it’s about the Americanisation of football , and what’s coming up in 4 years , lots and lots of $$
In their sports programmes they like nothing more than talk endlessly about all factors of a game , making something meaningless an event .
It’s almost openning up another industry for countless pundits , ex refs etc , so they mess around with the rule book and decision making .. TV advertising needs to have a contentious issue around it … being one of the primary incomes in US sports .
It’s being Yankeefied to almost gibbering nonsense , but they love it .
You’re right , it is changing , and not coming back .