Scottish referees are united for VAR
KEVIN CLANCY last night insisted the Scottish refereeing fraternity is united in its desire for VAR to be implemented ‘as soon as is feasibly possible’.
Chair of the Scottish Senior Referees’ Association, Clancy admits the presence of the video technology would have prevented him from awarding an illegitimate goal in the last Old Firm derby.
Clancy refereed Rangers’ 2-1 victory at Parkhead in December and admits the Odsonne Edouard goal which saw Celtic equalise before half-time would have been ruled out for handball had he been wired up to VAR.
While he admits the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is likely to slow its implementation, Clancy insists there is broad backing to pursue the technology.
He said: ‘The referees are fully in support of the SFA looking into the implementation of VAR.
‘The SSRA has made its views clear and we are moving in the right direction. I think the work being done behind the scenes shows the will is there.
‘Crawford Allan, the SFA’s head of referee
operations, his team and the SPFL are talking to suppliers and scoping it all out. It’s well on the way.
‘Cost is an issue. There has to be an element of reality as this pandemic has brought financial consequences for the game. ‘We need to ensure economic stability and it may well be that the knock-on effect may be to slightly delay VAR.
‘If that’s the case, then we have to be realistic but hopefully that discussion can pick up when we regain stability. I hope we try to have it implemented as soon as is feasibly possible.’
Asked to identify a specific match incident which may have benefited from VAR, the Edinburgh-based official settled on the last Glasgow derby.
‘In the Old Firm game before the turn of the year, a shot was rifled in, it deflected off Edouard and went into the net,’ he recalled. ‘The speed at which it happened and with the angle I had, it looked to me as though the
deflection was off Edouard’s hip, that area of his body.
‘In the cold light of day, and it did take the television pundits a couple of replays to work out which part of the anatomy it actually did strike, it looked to have struck Edouard’s hand on the way into the net.
‘The laws of the game do not allow that. A goal can’t be scored having struck somebody’s hand. That tweak to the law happened at the start of the season.
‘If decent camera angles had been available to identify that the ball touched Edouard’s hand before going into the Rangers net, I think VAR would have been in a good position to show quickly what had happened.
‘I expect the protocol would have been a communication from the VAR to me asking what I thought happened. I would have replied and been told that the TV replays perhaps show something different, that I would have to come across and have a look at it.
‘The decision would have been quickly dealt with. The game would have restarted and there would have been very little discussion after that.’