The next time Brendan Rodgers or anyone else at this club is asked about VAR it is imperative that he makes sure to correct the record. Yesterday, The Daily Record devoted an entire article to how “VAR” was being questioned over the Ibrox penalty incident against Motherwell as if it was some electronic eye and didn’t have actual officials making the decisions.
Ben Banks, one of their pitiful “writers” said the following;
“VAR has been hit with an awkward question as Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell stews over a potential missed spot-kick chance for his men against (the club from Ibrox) … but debate has swirled post-match on whether or not Mika Biereth was pulled down in the box by Cyriel Dessers as the Arsenal loanee looked to pounce on a home set-piece.
Neither on-field referee David Dickinson or VAR deemed it a penalty.”
Let’s get a couple of things straight; first, there’s no more “debate” here than there is on whether the Earth is round. That’s a penalty. All day. Every day. By any definition.
Even the SFA “Ibrox Rules” version says that’s a penalty.
That they would have gotten it cannot be in the least doubt. So, whatever “debate” Banks thinks is going on has to be confined to the Sevco Wing at the psych ward at Hidden Halls.
Everywhere else, they know what it was.
But it’s this reference to “VAR” as though we had sophisticated AI watching over our refs that truly pisses me off, and it should piss everyone off and whoever next has to talk on this from Celtic should make it clear that such language only serves to cloud a straightforward issue.
This was not some emotionless machine that simply couldn’t do the computations … this was a person; this was just another SFA good old boy who knows how things work around here.
This was a person, with the benefit of instant replay and an entire history of precedents to fall back on. This was an SFA employee well aware of the lengthy number of games since the Ibrox club last conceded a spot-kick, and doesn’t want to be the person who breaks that run, no matter how justified, no matter how in keeping with the regulations.
VAR for that game was under the control of a guy called Greg Aitken, and the VAR assistant was a guy called Graeme Stewart. They decided that the Ibrox club would not be penalised, not some computer program and they are where the criticism should be pointed.
I’ve heard VAR referred to this way before, as if it was the technology itself to blame and not the way it’s being used. That analogy I like to use about putting a cop on a guy’s tail for 500 miles is appropriate; think of VAR itself as the cop car, or maybe the speed gun. Are we really going to pretend this is the fault of a little black box and not the guys in the booth?
Language is important. The way it is used is important.
The whole discussion about VAR is tailored so we don’t think about it as something outside our authority, but of course it is, because “VAR error” is “human error” … or “VAR honest mistakes” to give this phenomenon its full name.
And the machines will be run by Willie Collum for the match at Celtic Park at the end of the week, “assisting” Nick Walsh, and that troubles me and it should trouble everyone at our club and none of them should be letting it be forgotten or glossed over.
If VAR is weaponised against us in that match, remember the man at the controls.
Having Collum monitor var sends a shiver down my spine. This was the guy remember who awarded a penalty to rangers against us with his back turned to the play.
Yeah, but he heard the foul being committed
There was no foul, Kirk Broadfoot dived.
It’s more than that. By suggesting that VAR didn’t deem it a penalty. It’s their poor attempt at trying to make out that VAR works automatically, sees and judges everything instantaneously and that by not having the incident reviewed, this means the correct decision had been made. The scandal is that we all know if a Rangers player had gone down in the same circumstances, a review of the incident would have been a certainty with a penalty almost definitely following.
100% James . I’m sick of blowing a gasket over this. Honest mistake, ha , they don’t have an honest bone in their bodies. Corruption is the cancer of our game.
The technology may be flawed, but nowhere near as flawed as the operate controllers are.
Another question: what the F are the linesmen for?
In that ‘pulled-back, non-penalty’, the nearside linesman should have
had a clear view of the incident?
In a crowded box, the ref is presumably following the ball movement.
The linesmen are best positioned to spot any off the ball infringements.
And the match officials are all micced up, are they not?
All I ever see are the linesmen flagging for offside – and that’s about it.
Are the linesmen failing in their – paid – duties as well?
The linesmen are in on the fix and told to leave it to the corrupt ref and VAR.
It’s the DR pro ibrox fan boys, tryin tae make it look like there’s a ‘case’ against it as well, when there isn’t one. Same thing happens every single time other teams don’t get awarded stonewall decisions against that lot. These clowns see it as their ‘duty’ tae defend every dodgy decision their favourites get away with.
Well said, VAR is an extra man for the huns. It’s now 11 against 15.
It’s all just an offshoot from the old ‘imperfectly registered ‘quote back in the day which went sailing off into the sunset without scrutiny from the SMSM . Nonchalance personified as a means to an end …under ALL circumstances ! The fix has ‘ been in ‘ for some considerable time now ! There are 60 million plus reasons why all the oars of the boat are pulling in the way of Ibrox land …..
Every club in the country needs to call it out, the game in Scotland is corrupt to core. VAR has proven it now…..
HH
Where would Sevco be without official corruption to help them out?
What do the Daily Comic’s REALLY get out of supporting Sevco?
Why is the 5 Way Agreement…a SECRET?
Why is Racist songs by Sevco supporters acceptable in Scotland?
Who sanctions the BBC’s obvious Sevco bias?
Why are Sevco Referees allowed to referee Sevco matches?
Does SFA’s ‘Fit and Proper’ definition mean fit and proper for Sevco?
Can corruption inside a Football League last – Indefinitely?
Am I a silly football supporter?
If it’s weaponised against us, we have our own club to blame for being silent for so long.
never saw it in real time but on sportscene there are 2 motherwell handbills in the box prior to the pull back if VAR intervened then they would have been called .FGS we are a better side just put this crap aside and do what we do best and WIN not winge .
No so much our own club to blame as much as that barsteward Lawwell. He sees the Paris Buns as a necessity to continued profitability and he’s no more ambition beyond swapping titles year in year out, never mind Europe. Makes me want to vomit. We’ve millions in the bank but. Whoop de doo!
No so much our own club to blame as much as that barsteward Lawwell. He sees the Paris Buns as a necessity to continued profitability and he’s no more ambition beyond swapping titles year in year out, never mind Europe. Makes me want to vomit. We’ve millions in the bank but. Whoop de doo!
Petition
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/boycott-all-upcoming-scottish-football-games-until-refereeing-standards-are-changed