Drew Herbertson, the former SFA head of disciplinary and refereeing, has attributed the outcry over the penalty that Celtic were awarded in their penultimate William Hill Premiership game against Motherwell at Fir Park last month to a lack of understanding about VAR.
Supporters of Motherwell and top flight leaders Hearts were incensed when the Parkhead club were given a spot kick by referee John Beaton for a Sam Nicholson handball in the eighth minute of extra-time in the league fixture.
Kelechi Iheanacho converted from 12 yards to snatch a 3-2 victory for Martin O’Neill’s men and the defending champions would go on to beat their Tynecastle rivals 3-1 at home three days later and secure their fifth successive Scottish title.
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Willie Collum, the SFA head of refereeing, backed Beaton’s call when he spoke on the VAR Review Show a fortnight later and stressed that Nicholson had taken a “huge risk” by jumping with his arms in a raised position.
Herbertson, who spent 40 years working at the governing body in a number of different positions, feels the controversy would have been avoided if fans fully appreciated the reasons that new technology is used.
“When it comes to VAR, people focus on whether something was a clear and obvious error,” he said. “They forget altogether about the other thing that VAR is supposed to do and that is to detect missed offences.
“There is nothing clear and obvious about John Beaton missing that offence, but it had been a missed offence and so that is why he had to intervene.
“Andrew Dallas was the VAR that night. First of all, well done for identifying the potential incident. Once John Beaton comes over to the monitor, he is quick to make a decision and that suggests to me that he is quite content that it is a handball.
“Football is becoming more and more disputatious. The problem nowadays in football is a simple one – people just don’t accept the decisions of the referee. They will argue the toss about anything.
“So many of these contentious incidents happen so late in the game. If they happen earlier in the game then play continues and players move on.”
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The SFA Key Match Incident (KMI) panel – which is comprised of three independent experts, such as former players, coaches and members of the media, as well as an ex-referee and a SPFL club representative - deemed the decision to award Celtic a penalty to be incorrect by a majority of two to one.
But Herbertson said, “It comes down, dare I say it, to the composition of the panel. I used to handle the admin work for the review panel which operated for a few years a quarter of a century ago. It had a former player, a former manager and a former referee on it.
“Quite often, an appeal against an incident that was a clear sending off won the day because the panel had a former player and a former manager who were convinced, from their own knowledge of the game, that it wasn’t a sending off. The referee was always outvoted. Something similar happens with the KMI panel in my opinion.”
