Skullduggery is alive and well despite the introduction of VAR

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The Celtic Star

·12 settembre 2024

Skullduggery is alive and well despite the introduction of VAR

We initially thought that there would be no room for ‘incompetence’ when VAR came on the scene, we couldn’t have been more wrong…

William Collum (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

This new idea of Willie Collum’s in that we get to regularly hear why officials have reached their decisions on and off the field is a great move and should be applauded.

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Collum was an inept official at the best of times, but this idea is a great move by the now head of refereeing and one that gives us all a fresh insight into the workings of the much maligned VAR technology.

However it’s still alarming that the officials are still willing to show what we will call ’incompetence’ when it comes to their decision making, all in the full knowledge that their actions are being closely monitored and soon to be available to the public.

Yesterday’s backstage delve into the world of VAR showed us all that, when the decision to deny Celtic a clear penalty after a blatant foul on Kyogo on the opening day of the season against Kilmarnock was ‘concluded’ to be the wrong decision by Collum.

We all knew that at the time, it was as clear cut a penalty kick as you’ll ever see. The most baffling thing was that firstly it was completely ignored by the on field officials, and secondly it was completely and ever so quickly dismissed by the VAR team who gave a completely false take on the situation despite seeing it quite clearly on a slow motion replay.

Total shambles. Having Stevie Wonder in the VAR room that day was always going to cause problems. Cheating? Only a dyed in the wool blue nose could watch that goalkeeper assault on Kyogo & then say play on. The keeper should have been red-carded and a penalty awarded. Disgraceful
– mercoledì 11 settembre 2024

Collum stated that the referee was unsighted as Matt O’Riley’s chipped free kick caught the match official by surprise. The Head of Referees also said that the referee was correctly positioned to look out for arms being in the wall. So the decision by VAR to incorrectly describe what happened and to also deny the referee the chance to actually view the incident that he missed due to no fault of his own is frankly astonishing.

Who was on VAR?
– mercoledì 11 settembre 2024

That to me is deeply concerning, that those in charge of our games are quite willing to misrepresent what happened, knowing full well that they are being closely monitored. Or perhaps this new initiative was devised after the season started?

"I think he's just made himself big and 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱." The VAR here claims that the GK isn't moving towards Kyogo and initiating the collision. Incredible.
– mercoledì 11 settembre 2024

By coming clean on the Kyogo penalty scandal from the opening day, perhaps Collum was looking to bury the even more indefensible decision in the Glasgow Derby to call Nicolas Kuhn offside by drawing would clearly looks like wildly inaccurate lines that even then look like the Celtic winger is onside.

We all used to think there would be no room for ‘incompetence’ when VAR arrived on the scene. We couldn’t have been more wrong. And skullduggery is alive and well among Scottish match officials even after the introduction of VAR. It’s just the same as it always was.

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