If individuals feel compelled to leak the personal details of match officials online, they deserve to face retribution. Same goes for anyone who uses those details in a menacing or abusive way. That speaks for itself. However, the Scottish FA have crossed the line in effectively blaming anyone and everyone – from managers to fans to players to media – who has ever said anything critical of referees in this country for the alleged targeting of John Beaton in the wake of awarding a last-gasp penalty to Celtic at Fir Park.
Let’s get one thing straight from the off. Officiating in Scotland is not up to standard. That’s not a matter of personal opinion. It’s fact.
Consider the list of referees and VARs for the World Cup. There’s not a Scot close to it. There hasn’t been Scottish representation at a major men's finals tournament for 10 years. Those at the very top of the game have come to the conclusion that what we have here right now doesn’t cut the mustard.
And that doesn’t come as any surprise to anyone who has been watching the club game in recent years. It’s been so poor this season, in particular, that even those of us who promoted the involvement of VAR in Scotland are coming to the conclusion it might be better getting rid of it as a result of the failure to harness the technology properly. A penalty was awarded to Celtic on Wednesday after a VAR check for an alleged handball.
Beaton awarding that spot-kick on Wednesday was just the tip of the iceberg. It wasn’t the worst VAR call ever, as Gary Lineker suggested. The problem is that it came hard on the heels of Hearts being denied two nailed-on penalties in their 1-1 draw at Motherwell the previous Saturday. It came against the backdrop of an increasing sense the Tynecastle outfit were being robbed. It came at the conclusion of a season in which there have been so many decisions – aided and abetted by VAR – that you simply cannot comprehend.
There was Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland handling the ball at Ibrox before scoring. Or Manny Fernandez of Rangers not being punished for handling in the box against Livingston. Or Ethan Hamilton of Dundee being booked for going down in the area after being booted by Falkirk’s Kyrell Wilson. Or Claudio Braga of Hearts being denied a stonewaller at Kilmarnock. Or Celtic’s Liam Scales still not getting a penalty for a shirt tug against Hibs when the VAR team have noticed it and talked about it. Or Mikey Moore of Rangers being brought down by Cammy Kerr at Livi with the ref not even being called to the monitor. It goes on and on.
What are managers and players and pundits to do? Just keep schtum and suck it up? Pretend it isn’t happening? This can, and should be, discussed without being abusive. Without being unnecessarily personal. These mistakes are so inexcusable that they can’t just be bodyswerved because there are a handful of nuggets out there who think sending threatening messages to people is the answer.
Head of refereeing Willie Collum’s VAR Review show did look like a brilliant tool to use footage and educate people on the laws, the grey areas, the wiggle room for interpretation. Sadly, it has been dominated by him owning up to regular bloopers. VAR isn’t working. Officials seem incapable of keeping their cool and applying laws and SFA guidance. Clubs are at their wit’s end, as evidenced by Rangers’ call for a meeting to address ways to make improvements. FIFA’s top brass see it too.
If people getting angry because of the things being said by managers, fans and pundits is an inconvenient truth that the SFA want to bring up in a windy statement, there are plenty of other inconvenient truths they might also like to show the same appetite for addressing in a public forum.
