WELL, that’s Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in operation now in the Scottish Premier Football League, something I have campaigned for in my past letters to The National.
As we all know, VAR does not hide the facts, rather it now highlights the incidents that have been “missed” by referees (in my opinion, some of those “missed” were intentional, but remember, that’s just MY opinion).
How is VAR performing? Well, it always performs 100%, it can’t do anything else. It records the entire match and its incidents, both on and off the ball, in “live time” as the game is played and records these “incidents”, particularly those that were previously “missed”.
Referees, on the other hand, haven’t changed! They are still “missing” the incidents, and that includes those referees in the remote monitoring location.
READ MORE: Stuart Cosgrove: VAR in SPFL madhouse will usher in a new kind of deranged argument
I have watched a number of matches now and am shocked at the dismal standard of refereeing in the SPFL. I see blatant penalties not being given. Players “diving” (politely referred to as “simulation”), with no action taken, obvious red-card incidents punished by yellow cards – in short, the referee on the park just not up to the required standard.
For example, the match to be delayed for as long as the Rangers v Aberdeen match was on Saturday is ridiculous. So many incidents, blatantly obvious, a blind man on a galloping horse could have seen them, and it is making a sham of VAR.
In a fast-flowing, high-powered football match, a delay of this amount of time can result in players being injured as they try to recover the match tempo but muscles have “cooled” and often injury results. That situation applies to both teams.
By the inactions of both the match referee and the remote VAR referee team they have now established that VAR works, and works well, but it is not being applied correctly and that system is overseen in its entirety by referees!
READ MORE: 'Kill all Huns' banner at Rangers v Aberdeen match in Glasgow sparks police investigation
My first correspondence to The National a few years ago proposed that we bring referees from England to Scotland to officiate at football matches and I still consider that, in some format, it should happen. It won’t happen because it’s the SFA and SPFL we are talking about.
So, here’s another suggestion. Why not transmit the SPFL VAR recordings to the English remote VAR team and they can make decisions, because it is blatantly obvious Scottish referees can’t respond quickly enough or impartially (the “impartially” bit is still only MY opinion).
Only last week we saw our two greatest footballing clubs get dumped from the greatest football tournament in the world, and I include the World Cup. Scotland may produce great football managers, world-class players, and at one time world-class referees, but not now!
The occasional manager (and even rarer still, player) occasionally surfaces but they are few and far between, and sadly becoming even fewer.
Jim Todd
Cumbernauld
WE were concerned to hear that The SEC in Glasgow has been ordered to pay almost £100,000 in damages to a US preacher after cancelling his event.
Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, has faced criticism over remarks about homosexuality. The event was opposed by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow’s LGBT+ Interfaith Network, politicians and other church leaders but its cancellation was deemed to have breached equality legislation and “religious freedom”.
READ MORE: Glasgow OVO Hydro must pay £100,000 to Franklin Graham after event axed
We must not police private church attitudes, however distasteful, but a law which condemns homophobic hate, and yet champions it at public events when it is religious homophobic hate, is an ass.
Neil Barber
Edinburgh Secular Society
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