Willie Collum weighs in on two refereeing flashpoints involving Rangers as VAR threshold question answered
The former whistler stuck by his officials in separate incidents
SFA Head of Refereeing Willie Collum believes Rangers were rightfully awarded a penalty against St Mirren in their last outing before the international break.
In their 2-0 victory in Paisley, defender James Penrice went down in the box following a challenge from Buddies midfielder Thomas Ramos. Referee Nick Walsh instantly pointed to the spot, however replays showed that there was minimal contact on Penrice. Despite this, VAR Greg Aitken chose not to intervene and the penalty was scored by striker Ryan Naderi.
The decision has divided the opinion of former referees and pundit. One former Scottish whistler Steve Conroy accused Penrice of ‘practicing’ his fall to the ground and disagreed with Walsh’s decision. However, speaking to Gordon Duncan on Sky Sports’ VAR Review, Collum has cleared up why he thinks the officiating team got it right on the day.
Why were Rangers rightfully awarded a penalty?
The ex-referee said: "People will debate about the contact but the player takes a huge risk. He goes in, challenges for the ball and doesn't touch the ball and makes contact with the opponent. As soon as the referee blows the whistle here, we fully support this decision. As soon as this is given on field, there's no doubt for us that the penalty kick is supported. I don't think there's a great deal of contact but I think there is contact. Can we say this is not a foul? No."
The decision has led to further questions over the VAR ‘clear and obvious’ threshold, as Collum also admitted that if Walsh hadn’t have pointed to the spot then the decision also wouldn’t have been overturned. Asked if the bar has now been set for similar type of incidents, Collum continued: "It's a fair point.
“But when we're talking about the bar and setting a threshold, we also talk about that around VAR intervention and the appropriateness of whether the VAR would get involved. Here, regardless of the on-field decision, when you look at the footage, it's not one that VAR would touch. So if a referee here plays on and the on-field description is accurate, then we continue the game.”
Referee also ‘correct’ in St Johnstone red
Collum also agreed that St Johnstone winger Kai Fotheringham was right to see red when they faced Rangers on October 24. On a slippy Ibrox surface while the hosts were three goals up, the Scotsman caught Rangers midfielder Nico Raskin high on his shin in the 72nd minute.
On-field referee Chris Graham originally waved play-on, however he was told to review the incident on the monitor by VAR Andrew Dallas. He subsequently gave Fotheringham his marching orders for serious foul play. Gers midfielder Tochi Chukwuani then found the back of the net to secure the 4-0 win.
While some have described the call as harsh, Collum believes once again that the officials came to the correct conclusion. He continued: “It’s correct for us. It’s a red card for serious foul play. It’s a missed incident which opens the door even further for the VAR team.”
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