Reason for three key Rangers VAR decisions laid bare
Willie Collum explained three key VAR decisions involving Rangers (Image: Scottish FA)
Three key VAR decisions involving Rangers have been explained by the Scottish FA.
Referee chief Willie Collum discussed decisions involving Hearts, Ross County and St Johnstone in the Scottish FA’s new The VAR Review show.
Collum insisted the right decision was made in the handball incident on Connor Barron in Rangers vs Hearts and stated it was correct to award the goal for Cyriel Dessers against St Johnstone after a VAR review.
However, the former top-flight official stated a foul was missed before Dessers’ goal against Ross County.
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He reckons a free-kick should have been awarded after Tom Lawrence’s tackle but the incident was not pulled back as the attacking phase of play (APP) had been correctly reset.
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Hearts vs Rangers – Connor Barron handball – Correct decision
(Image: Scottish FA)
No handball was given for the incident in the match between Rangers and Hearts.
For Collum, that was correct with a focus on improving handball decision-making this season with more football understanding applied by referees.
While the ball does strike Barron on the arm, Collum states no penalty was the correct outcome as his arm was tucked into his body.
The ref chief explained: “This for us is a very good clip, it illustrates the direction of travel. Probably, last season it would have been awarded.
“The key point here is that the arm is tucked into the body. The player does not make his body bigger. If the ball doesn’t hit the arm here, it is probably hitting the body and that is key for us.
“This is a clear clip for us to show the direction of travel we want to take with handball. This is not punishable for us this season moving forward.”
Rangers vs St Johnstone – Cyriel Dessers goal – Correct decision
(Image: Scottish FA)
Referee chief Collum has confirmed the correct decision was made in the end – to award the goal.
However, while praising the match official for his delaying of the whistle and communication with VAR, Collum did state the body language of the referee was poor and suggested a free-kick was about to be given.
“The starting point for us is we coach the referee here and the referees generally about good body language,” he said.
“Here, the referee probably doesn’t display good body language because his body language when the challenge is made on the edge of the penalty area is everything is edging towards a free kick, body language-wise.
“However, even though his body language is showing that, he correctly delays the whistle, he correctly communicates so the VAR is aware of what he intends to do if a goal is scored and when the ball hits the net he then blows the whistle for what he deems to be a defensive free-kick punishing the Rangers player for a challenge.
“The VAR then go into a check and they quickly come to a conclusion that in fact there is no infringement – I would also say this is a normal footballing contact. Some people have said to me, ‘Would it be a penalty if the attacker had gone down?’. For me, this is normal football contact and it would have been play-on, nobody does anything wrong.
“The VAR checks and realises the Rangers player has not committed a foul and therefore they recommend an on-field review for the referee to assess that, to come to the screen and have another look.
“The check takes quite long because there is also an offside in the build-up and the VAR needs to make sure they get that right. We would like that check to be quicker, we would like the check of the attacking phase of play, the potential offside as the referee comes to the monitor to speed things up. We know it can seem very slow.
“Ultimately for us, apart from the body language, in terms of the whistle, the delay and the communication with the VAR the correct process was followed. And ultimately for us the correct decision was reached.”
He continued: “The reason I am more than satisfied is there are two aspects to this. Firstly, we can hear the audio and hear when the whistle goes, and if the whistle had gone prior to the ball going in the net it would be impossible for the referee to speak at that time because he would be blowing the whistle but you clearly hear the match referee indicating by voice what he is going to do. For us, it is absolutely clear the whistle was blown after the goal was scored.
“Very importantly for this as well, some people said, ‘If the referee thinks it’s a foul, he should blow immediately there’. That is absolutely against the protocol and for us if the referee blows his whistle at the point he thinks a foul happens and then immediately the shot is struck and goes in to goal it’s a disaster for us.”
Asked whether it’s as simple as playing to the whistle for players in similar scenarios, Collum said: “I understand that but I also would compare it to occasionally an assistant would raise an incorrect flag and just because people may stop – it is impossible for a referee to accept an incorrect flag.
“That would be another scenario we would tell people to it’s best to play to the whistle than play to a signal.”
Rangers vs Ross County – Cyriel Dessers goal – Foul missed but VAR applied correctly
(Image: Scottish FA)
Cyriel Dessers’ strike against Ross County was correctly awarded with no issues in the attacking phase of play (APP).
However, the tackle from Tom Lawrence in the middle of the park before the goal – and reset APP – should have been deemed a foul – meaning the goal would not have stood.
According to Collum, the APP was reset in the build-up to the goal as per SFA instruction with the guidance correctly applied – but a foul should have been given prior to the new APP.
Despite the missed foul, Collum was content with VAR not intervening in the issue as he stated VAR is not there to re-referee the match.
He said: “Firstly, it is a clear foul for me, the referee has missed on field. It is a reckless tackle by the Rangers player, he catches the Ross County player.
“You will hear the referee saying the ball has been won, the ball has not been won.
“For us in this case, and you can clearly see in TV review, the ball has not been touched.
“If that player then takes possession of the ball, a Rangers player takes possession of the ball, immediately goes up field maybe one or two passes and a goal was scored then we would consider this in the attacking phase of play.
“However, there are a lot of passes made, some going back the way. We would encourage the VAR, the VAR did in this game, to reset the APP. The reason we are asking for the APP to be reset; VAR is not there to re-referee the match.
“The tackle is missed, it should have been a foul but this does not constitute the APP.”
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