DURING Rangers’ remarkable run without conceding a penalty in the Premiership at the end of last year, I was invited onto a popular Scottish football podcast to discuss the thorny topic of refereeing bias.
The show aired after BBC Scotland broadcaster and Aberdeen fan Richard Gordon had caused a right old rumpus by suggesting that our leading match officials favoured the Ibrox club in a column – and I had penned an opinion piece in these pages stating the tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists deserved a red card.
A couple of prominent Celtic bloggers came on to offer their views on what was very much the hot talking point in the game in this country at the time. Their contributions to the debate gave a revealing insight into how the SFA is perceived by an awful lot of supporters.
It is fair to say there was not a great deal of trust in those who occupied positions of power at the governing body. There were suggestions of unconscious bias, of definite patterns of assistance, of hidden agendas against the club which was en route to lifting a 12th Scottish title in 13 years.
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It was, given that Rangers had gone 71 league matches, nearly two years, without having a spot kick awarded against them in the league, difficult to disabuse them of their firmly-held beliefs.
But they presented an image of the SFA which was quite alien to those which reporters, who are invited in to Hampden and Clydesdale House regularly to speak to referees and their supervisors about the introduction and implementation of VAR as well as the many challenges they face on a weekly basis, have formed.
Talking personally to the individuals who take charge of matches on a Saturday afternoon, leaves you with the distinct impression that, while they may not always get things right, they care passionately about doing their jobs to the very best of their ability.
It was clear that a big part of the problem was the fact that nobody from the SFA was putting their head above the parapets to address the outcries which raged following contentious decisions in high-profile games. During media briefings, there were honest admissions that referees had got big calls wrong. We are human, we make mistakes.
So the SFA are to be congratulated for this week launching The VAR Review, a monthly show on their You Tube channel which will see new head of refereeing Willie Collum discuss the major flashpoints in Scottish football in the previous weeks and the real-time audio from the officials aired. It is a long overdue and welcome development.
Collum did not skirt any issue during his half hour conversation with host Gordon Duncan. He admitted that Celtic should have been given a penalty in their Premiership match against Kilmarnock at Parkhead last month when Kyogo Furuhashi was clattered by Robby McCrorie as he challenged for the ball in the visitors’ area.
He then conceded that Dundee United should also have been awarded a spot kick in their league encounter with their city rivals Dundee at Tannadice – a game which finished 2-2 at the end of the 90 minutes – when Luke Graham handled at a corner.
He went on to outline why he believed other decisions, such as allowing the Cyriel Dessers goals for Rangers against St Johnstone and Ross County at Hampden to stand and the red carding of Kilmarnock captain Brad Lyons against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, were correct. It was fascinating, informative, beneficial stuff.
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Some of it – like Matthew MacDermid telling Rabbi Matondo to go away so that he could listen to his colleagues, chastising the winger like a naughty schoolkid – was actually rather amusing.
The reaction from many punters, though, was depressingly predictable. There were certainly those who applauded the show in their online comments. This sort of transparency will only help in the long run. A brilliant idea. Fair play to the SFA. Remarkably refreshing. Congratulations Mr Collum.
But Ross Hardie telling Rangers midfielder Tom Lawrence not to tackle Connor Randall from behind as the Ross County man burst upfield led to negative headlines and accusations of favouritism. Referees are duty bound to both communicate with and try to protect footballers during play. The paranoid, though, were having none of it whatsoever.
There is clearly much work still to be done to drag some football fans kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Nothing whatsoever will convince some poor souls that the big, bad establishment are out to get their team. Being a victim is a very comfortable position for them to occupy.
However, the introduction of The VAR Review is a hugely positive move which should hopefully help rid the Scottish game of tiresome but persistent accusations of institutional skulduggery in the future.
