No surprises that the decision to deny Celtic a penalty was incorrect, now the club needs to ask why the VAR official got it so badly wrong, and maybe ask why another referee appeared to be coaching theRangers midfielder Tom Lawrence…
A review of refereeing decisions this season has declared that the decision to deny Celtic a penalty on the opening day of the season was wrong, not that we didn’t know that already.
Obvious to everyone except the Rangers supporter on VAR
It was obvious to everyone in the ground and anyone watching on TV at the time that it was clear obstruction on Kyogo with the Kilmarnock keeper taking the Japanese striker clean out after he took a touch of the ball.
The rules of the game say it’s a foul so a penalty kick should have been awarded. But for some reason it was waved away by on field official Don Robertson, while his colleague on VAR Greg Aitken backed him up by deciding no offence had taken place.
Today Willie Collum has agreed with what we all already knew and was honest enough to admit his colleagues made an ‘error’ in not awarding a spot kick.
That’s all well and good, but the question is why? It was clear as day yet they all collectively decided that no offence had taken place.
It was a penalty kick end of story
It didn’t matter that we were 3-0 up at the time, it was a penalty kick end of story. We’ve all been told it was the wrong decision, but we want to know how they reached that conclusion or more importantly why!
Today the SFA launched The VAR Review on You Tube but with the comments facility switched off. Here’s how they describe the monthly show…
Hosted by Gordon Duncan
The VAR Review is a brand new monthly show that gives Scottish football fans a behind the scenes look at some of the big decisions made across the game – whether they are right or whether they are wrong – and how those decisions are reached. Get unique insight through the use of VAR and referee audio. Host Gordon Duncan is joined by Head of Refereeing, Willie Collum, for the first show, which looks back at the opening of the 2024 season, up until the September international break.
Watch for yourself and marvel at the referee in theRangers v Ross County game actually coaching theRangers player Tom Lawrence then ignoring the blatant foul that led to theRangers regaining possession and scoring.
On the Kyogo penalty, the haste to dismiss the penalty option was remarkable as was the commentary from VAR describing what the Kilmarnock keeper was doing which was nothing like the footage he was watching.
As pointed out on The Celtic Star earlier the SFA’s VAR Review, that covers games from the start of the season up to the September international break, fails to look at the offside decision called by Andrew Dallas on VAR for the Kyogo goal in the Glasgow Derby at the start of the month when the score was still 0-0.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
READ THIS…Celtic addressed weaknesses on the park, now off-field flaws must be sorted
COMING SOON ON CELTIC STAR BOOKS…CELTIC IN THE THIRTIES, VOLUMES 1&2 BY MATT CORR…
