Celtic F.C
Willie Collum gives explosive verdict on ‘unacceptable’ Rangers-Celtic penalty call as VAR audio released
SFA referees chief addresses missed penalty incident
The Scottish Football Association’s chief referee, Willie Collum, has called Rangers’ loss to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final and the decision to not give them a penalty kick “unacceptable.”
Referee John Beaton denied Rangers a penalty attempt in the third minute of extra time after Celtic defender Liam Scales pulled a shirt on winger Vaclav Cerny, resulting in a free-kick on the edge of the penalty box. Rangers were furious when Celtic won the trophy in a shootout following the 3-3 draw at Hampden because a VAR check did not detect that the foul had occurred on the line, within the penalty area.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement branded the failure of VAR to intervene as “really weird” and asked reporters to “dig into it” while new Ibrox CEO Patrick Stewart, who only started on Monday, also contacted the SFA on his first day in office to seek an explanation. The VAR team on duty – Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor – have not been assigned a William Hill Premiership fixture this weekend having been stood down as a result of the oversight.
In the SFA’s VAR Review show, which aired on Thursday, former referee Collum, who hung up his whistle last season to succeed Crawford Allan as the organization’s new head of referees, acknowledged that a significant mistake was made.
Collum remarked, “It’s a really, really poor decision,” “The choice is unacceptable. The VAR crew is aware of that. In refereeing, everyone is aware of it. It’s not acceptable. Through our teaching and analysis, we will make every effort to ensure that a similar situation never occurs again. It’s a mistake, but a terrible one.
The VAR audio was also broadcast which saw senior VAR official Muir make an instant assessment that the foul had taken place outside the box. “He’s just outside the penalty area,” Muir states. “There’s not much more in it than that. You can see he’s just outside. It’s really close. It’s more outside. Agree?” Assistant VAR Connor then replies: “100 per cent.” Referee Beaton than asks: “Are we all good to go in the VAR centre?”. Muir replies: “Yeah, we’re good to go, no ongoing checks.”
Collum explained where the officials went wrong.
Collum has vowed that the Scottish refereeing and VAR department  will learn from the incident with meetings already having taken place with his top officials.
“People need to take their time to determine whether the holding is inside or outside, but when you look at the TV pictures here, it’s not a difficult decision for the VAR team,” he continued. In the analysis, they are not sufficiently forensic. They go by way too fast. I believe they are thrown because the Rangers player’s body is mostly outside the penalty area, but it isn’t important because they should be evaluating the holding and making sure they have a clear picture to demonstrate that it extends into the penalty area. People will undoubtedly hear me remark that it is wrong, but it is insufficient, therefore we have examined this incident. We must now comprehend
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