Dec 20,2024
Rangers claim Scottish football's credibility has been damaged by the officiating blunder which cost them a penalty in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final defeat by Celtic.
The Scottish Football Association’s head of referees Willie Collum admitted on Thursday that the way Rangers were denied a spot-kick at Hampden Park by the VAR team was "unacceptable".
In extra time, with the two Glasgow giants tied at 3-3, referee John Beaton blew for a foul just outside the Hoops’ box when Celtic's Republic of Ireland defender Liam Scales fouled Gers winger Vaclav Cerny.
However, television replays showed the infringement carried on inside the penalty area and, after the free-kick came to nothing, Celtic went on to win 5-4 on penalties after a draw in 120 minutes.
Afterwards, Rangers boss Philippe Clement described the absence of intervention by VAR Alan Muir and assistant VAR Frank Connor as "really weird".
In a response to Collum’s admission, a Rangers spokesperson said: "Rangers FC notes the Scottish FA’s admission of an officiating failure following the non-award of a penalty to Rangers in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final and welcomes the transparency from the Scottish FA.
"However, for such a failure to occur during one of Scotland’s showcase matches is not only hugely disappointing for the club and its supporters, but also damaging for the credibility of Scottish football more widely.
"We acknowledge the Scottish FA’s determination to use this and other decision-making failures as opportunities to drive improvements in officiating standards.
"As a club, we will continue to engage with the Scottish FA in an attempt to improve officiating standards for the benefit of all clubs in Scotland."
In December's VAR Review monthly show, former referee Collum said: "The holding is the key part of this decision. It’s really, really important.
"There’s been a lot said about the Rangers player has a foot on the penalty area line. The foot is actually irrelevant in this case. It’s about the holding, and the holding only, because that’s where the contact is.
"The holding begins outside the penalty area and then it continues on the line and even arguably beyond the line and fully into the penalty area.
"But regardless, the fact that it’s on the line, this should be considered as a penalty kick.
"The referee’s awarded a free-kick on field because he sees the pulling. He’s correctly judged the incident in terms of the foul play.
"But then the VAR team need to go into a check and decide whether this incident is inside or outside. Ultimately they fail to come to the correct conclusion, which is this should have been a factual overturn for a penalty kick to be awarded."
Asked to explain the mistake, Collum replied: "I have to be very honest and say people need to take time to make sure, is the holding inside, outside?
"But ultimately, when you look at the TV pictures, this is not a difficult decision for the VAR team.
"They are not forensic enough in the analysis. They move far too quickly.
"I think they’re thrown because the majority of the Rangers player’s body is outside the penalty area, but that’s irrelevant because it’s the holding they should be judging and they should be making sure they get a clear image to show them that that continues into the penalty area.
"We need to now understand why did we get it wrong and how do we make things better? What’s the lessons learned from this incident? Because people will find it very hard to accept this error, very difficult to accept it."
