Nick Walsh explains to Rangers why he didn’t send off Austin Trusty | OneFootball

A lot of the controversy over Rangers’ loss to Celtic at Hampden rested on one particular decision from referee Nick Walsh. The big call, which Rangers fans remain outraged by, is that Austin Trusty Rangers red did not receive a straight bath for his boot-in-the-face/head of Jack Butland.

The Incident and the Decision

With Thelo Aasgaard having been sent off for a reckless challenge earlier in the match, Rangers fans and players believed that Trusty’s attack on Jack Butland merited the same outcome. He, however, only received a booking. But Nick Walsh has explained why it wasn’t a red card.

Walsh’s Explanation

The reason is simple. Force. Nick Walsh has explained that the force with which Trusty went in with his boot was not aggressive. This is why it was only a yellow card. However, we are not entirely sure that we totally agree with this.

Basically, James Tavernier has argued the point that Trusty’s force doesn’t really matter. It was the intent that does. The fact is, he went in with his boot, left it hanging, and it clashed with Butland’s head.

The Question of Intent

Was it massively aggressive? Possibly not. But the intent appeared to be to make contact and there was no removal of the boot. That is a red card on anybody’s understanding. And the question of force suggests either that Walsh hasn’t understood the rules of the game properly or that Rangers fans haven’t.

Many Rangers fans outlets are arguing that Rangers have to make a call to the SFA to demand a proper explanation for this. This cannot remain silent. We don’t necessarily disagree, but we would like to see a clarification of the law here.

We would like to see the passage which explains that this was about force and not intent. There is definitely a muddying of the rules when it comes to intent. After all, a player can be penalised for having their hand in the wrong place without intent if they are in the box and handle the ball, ruining a goal-scoring chance, even without afforementioned intent.

If that’s the case, then it does shed potential light over Trusty’s incident. Was there intent? Was there not? That’s what James Tavernier argues. He believes that there was.

The Bigger Picture

The fact is, it probably doesn’t really matter and is slightly splitting hairs. Rangers were second best all over the park as we argued yesterday. We didn’t play too badly overall in the second half. There was a bit more fight, but ultimately Celtic were worthy winners.

There’s the argument that that sending off would have made it an even playing field. But Rangers were poor when it was 11 against 11 in the first half, so we’re not sure how much difference it would actually have made. Austin Trusty Rangers red may have.

At the end of the day, we will never know. That is, anyway, Nick Walsh’s explanation for why he did not send off Trusty. Whether you agree with it probably depends on the colours of your shirt.