Motherwell have confirmed that Kofi Balmer’s red card against Kilmarnock has been rescinded – but the club has expressed its fury after being forced to play the majority of Saturday’s match with ten men in a 2–0 defeat.
The Northern Irish defender was controversially dismissed in the 14th minute at Fir Park following a VAR review, leaving Michael Wimmer’s side at a disadvantage in a crucial fixture so close to the Scottish Premiership split.
While the decision has now been overturned following an appeal, allowing Balmer to be available for this weekend’s crunch clash with Hearts, the Steelmen say the damage has already been done.
The Lanarkshire side were left to count the cost as goals from Fraser Murray and Joe Wright earned Killie all three points, dealing a blow to Motherwell’s top-six hopes.
This marks the second time this season that the club has been forced to launch a red card appeal – a process they describe as time-consuming and costly.
The club also raised serious concerns over the use of VAR and the standard of officiating, questioning how a system designed to eliminate clear and obvious errors could allow the decision to stand in the first place.
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Motherwell claim this is the eighth time this season they’ve been negatively impacted by a decision that was later deemed incorrect by the Scottish FA’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel – with the most recent incident involving a tackle on Andy Halliday that went unpunished, only to be retrospectively labelled a unanimous red card.
They also took aim at the financial burden of VAR, revealing they contribute a “significant six-figure sum” towards its operation each season.
A club statement read: "We can confirm that Kofi Balmer’s red card has been rescinded, and the defender is available to face Hearts on Saturday.
"The club are delighted that the correct decision has eventually been reached.
"However, this doesn’t get away from the fact Motherwell played with ten men for over 75 minutes in an important fixture just prior to the split.
"This is the second time this season the club has had to go through the time, effort and expenditure to appeal a red card decision.
"We have concerns that VAR felt that this was an obvious refereeing error in the first place. Again, the on-field review has come out with the wrong outcome.
"We spend a significant six-figure sum each season towards the running costs of VAR at the stadium. There have been eight instances so far this season where Motherwell have been directly impacted by what has subsequently been deemed an incorrect referee or VAR decision.
"This was as recent as last week when a tackle on Andy Halliday went unpunished, and the SFA’s KMI panel viewed it as a unanimous red card.
"These continued errors throughout the season, for all clubs, will have a direct impact on where teams will finish in the final standings, which obviously determines finances for each club.
"We hope that with the financial commitment put on the club to use VAR, combined with the frustration our fans get from the game due to the intervention from VAR, we see significant improvement in its implementation going forward.'
