Ex referees stunned by VAR in Rangers vs Celtic as 'absolute nonsense' leads to full fat ref tech demand
Rangers and Celtic played out an Old Firm derby on Sunday where a VAR process has been criticised.
A pair of former referees have hit out at VAR and how it went about ruling out a Celtic goal against Rangers in last Sunday’s Old Firm derby.
Chaotic scenes post-match where both sets of supporters ended up on the pitch have dominated headlines, coming after a 0-0 draw over 120 minutes in the Scottish Cup quarter-final, which Celtic eventually won 4-2 on penalties. They did have a goal ruled out for offside when Liam Scales was judged to have strayed into that position when flicking the ball on for Daizen Maeda to head home.
While acknowledging that it was likely the right decision, former referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy have been left aghast at the VAR process. Roache felt the angles resulted in poor offside lines being drew up as Conroy demanded a ‘full fat’ version of VAR to debunk any debate on such decisions.
VAR decision in Rangers vs Celtic assessed
Roache said on the Ref’s View: “It’s barely recognisable. I mean, the angles aren’t great. But when you look at the way the play had progressed, Scales comes back from an offside position. Being offside isn’t an offence in itself. So you can be there. But the first thing that he does, he materially impacts the game.
“Because it’s him that nods the head, nods the ball on to Maeda. So that’s it. The buck stops there. He’s came back from there, but the standard of lines that we’re getting drawn now, is that where we’re at now in Scottish football?”
Conroy added: “An assumption is a guess. Let’s not beat about the bush. I’ve long since given up trying to fathom what the SFA do. One week, it’s two lines. One week, it’s not. We’re guessing, we can’t get the lines drawn anyway, so we’re just going to have a wee go at it. It is becoming farcical, and it’s making us look like country yokels.
VAR in Scottish football verdict
“It’s an absolute joke, not taken away from the fact that I think Scales was offside but just give us it the way it should be. We don’t want diet VAR. Just give us the full fat version. It’s an absolute nonsense.”
Michael Stewart was on punditry duty for Premier Sports at the game and also raised eyebrows at the process, saying when asked if it looked right: “No, I think I said it in the studio, when you look at a monitor that is 10-15 feet away and it’s not like a phone that you can zoom in on, it’s difficult. You just look at it, and it’s all about trust.
“You’ve got to trust the lines are in the right place, but my gut is, I think Scales is offside, but Djiga, who is the deepest Rangers defender, the line is not drawn on him. His left shoulder, for me, appeared to be the deepest part of a Rangers defender. I think he would still be offside, but those lines just don’t look right.”
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