Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Scottish FA respond to Celtic vs Rangers VAR penalty controvery

Scottish FA chiefs have noted their disappointment in a statement responding to Rangers' latest update on the controversial VAR handball decision in the match against Celtic.

Hampden chiefs state that a "constructive and informative" meeting with James Bisgrove and Creag Robertson had been conducted "amicably" with head of referee operations Crawford Allan.

However, the governing body claims that was not represented in Rangers' account of the discourse on the matter following the 2-1 loss to Celtic at Parkhead.

The SFA statement suggests there was "an overall consensus that the incident could not have led to a penalty kick".

It reads: "The Scottish FA is disappointed by contents of the most recent statement issued by Rangers in relation to a match incident during the club’s recent Premiership fixture against Celtic. 

"Chief Executive James Bisgrove and Director of Football Operations Creag Robertson attended a private briefing with the Head of Referee Operations, Crawford Allan, to review the incident in question, including the use of matchday audio. We understood from the chief executive that the meeting had been constructive and informative, and conducted amicably.

"This does not appear to be reflected in the club’s statement.

"During the meeting, it was pointed out that the incident in question was a subjective handball and that the VAR did not deem it a sufficiently clear and obvious error to refer to On Field Review. 

"Furthermore, the offside would not have been mentioned at the time as it was not part of the VAR’s decision-making on the handball. It was highlighted within Clydesdale House that had the VAR considered the incident to be a handball offence and asked the referee to carry out an On Field Review, the Attacking Phase of Play would have been checked and an offside would have been identified. This supplementary information was relayed to broadcasters in-game, and we are reviewing the process of information dissemination to avoid any perceived ambiguity in future.   "There was an overall consensus that the incident could not have led to a penalty kick being awarded in any event, and that there was no impact on the final outcome of the match. 

"Scotland’s VAR protocol is in many ways modelled on the PGMOL system, and we are in regular dialogue with our colleagues in England on knowledge sharing and improvements. VAR has been operational in Scotland for just over a year, whilst it has been operational in England for more than four. 

"Since the summer, we have ensured that Key Match Incidents are reviewed and shared with all clubs after every full round of 11 Premiership fixtures, including use of audio. We will continue to do this, along with KMI being shared with the Independent Review Panel for their consideration and opinion."

The Scottish FA then called for "greater responsibility" to be shown as chiefs cited requests from the private meeting which were immediately rejected.

The statement concluded: "Finally, we note posts from a recent official media partner of the club’s detailing requests from the private meeting that were immediately rejected. We would ask that club representatives show greater responsibility in such matters, especially in the context of recent incidents in European football that have compromised the safety of match officials and led to widespread condemnation."

Rangers chiefs had been left furious over the decision not to award a penalty for an alleged handball by Alistair Johnston at Celtic Park.

The defender appeared to knock the ball out with his hand under pressure from Abdallah Sima, however, a goal kick was given by referee Nick Walsh.

Willie Collum on VAR did not call for a review of the on-field decision. A still showing an offside in the build-up was then distributed to broadcasters however, Rangers claim there was no mention of the offside in discussions between the referee and VAR operators at the time of the decision.

The club called for audio of the incident to be shared publically and also stated a "number of specific requests" were made to the Scottish FA.

A Rangers statement on the matter read: “Rangers FC today met with Scottish FA officials to discuss the VAR handball call and subsequent miscommunications from Saturday’s Old Firm match.

“From the meeting, there was an overriding consensus the VAR decision of no handball was incorrect.

“Having listened to the audio, there is no mention of a potential offside at the time of the handball decision. Rangers is also deeply concerned at the haste at which the erroneous no-handball call was made.

“Rangers has appealed to the Scottish FA to release the audio and explain this decision, and future contentious decisions involving all clubs, to the public, as would be common practice in England for such a decision.

“The club has made a number of specific requests that it hopes the Scottish FA will respond to in order to improve matters going forward.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.