SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

With the return of real fitba now on the horizon,it seems that my fervent wish for Celtic to use the last five weeks to turn the screw on the SFA over the unique application of VAR in Scotland has come to naught. Not only has nothing been done to repair the abuse of the system,but we have been told by no less a figure than the head honcho of the SFA that VAR is working exactly as intended.

Aye,you bet it is!

As usual,Celtic will tell us that they are making representations on the club’s behalf about this farcical situation. Using the usual MO,of contact behind the scenes. You know,because that has worked ever so well in the past,after all. Indeed it has. It has silenced the gullible amongst us,while the less easily fooled are left stranded in no-man’s land,branded as conspiracy nuts. Paranoid.

Yet if history has shown us anything,it is that we simply haven’t been paranoid enough. And yes,those who fail to learn from history are indeed doomed to repeat it,as the interpretation up here of VAR-a proven technology,used all over the world-proves. 

VAR,as we all know,was originally introduced to eliminate “clear and obvious” errors,though its remit seems to have been somewhat redefined since then. It is now used in all penalty decisions,offsides,straight red card offences,and for every goal scored. An error no longer has to be clear and obvious,the laws of the game are to be rigorously applied.

That has led to some very close offside calls,for instance. Such as being offside by the length of a wee toe-or less! Some rather harsh penalties being awarded,as for example when a player gets to the ball marginally before a defender. The defender makes contact,and the penalty is given-even when the player has in no way had the ball under control,and has in fact simply kicked it out of play. Strict adherence to the letter of those  laws,yes. But hardly to their spirit.

So with all the replays available to the watching official on monitor detail,there can be no excuse for getting a decision wrong,is there? In fact,such a thing is almost beyond the boundaries of possibility-isn’t it? Well,it appears that all depends on your definition of getting a decision wrong! If the VAR official is looking at the replays to identify an infringement,then he has an easy job. And,on that score,they tend to get the big decisions correct.

But not all the time,as the overturning of two red cards has already shown us. And remember,these are the only on-field decisions which can be rectified after the event. Others,like erroneously chalked off goals,penalty or offside decisions stand,whether they are proven to be correct or not. Coming soon,manhandling in the box-just watch!

The referee and the VAR official are the final arbiters in these decisions,and they know they can apply VAR as and how they please. For there is no sanction available against them,while any discussion by players or managers,no matter how mild,is met by an immediate charge from the SFA of bringing the game into disrepute-the footballing equivalent of the catch-all breach of the peace,but with more severe penalties.

It is not only Celtic who have been on the receiving end of some shockers since the introduction of VAR,as we know. Every club has their own examples,even in such a short period of time. Well,all bar one-see if you can guess which? Yet,while happy to bring them to the attention of the media at the time,none are prepared to make demands of the SFA to get their house in order! And that includes us,of course.

As always,we are like lions led by pussies. And as we haven’t used the five week hiatus to get the situation resolved,we can only look to the boardroom when we point the finger of blame the next time we are on the receiving end. And the SFA have made a good start by appointing Walsh for the huns game tonight,and Clancy as VAR official at Aberdeen on Saturday. We go into these games with a nine point lead,and I would like us to maintain the pressure by getting twelve points from the four matches before the arrival of 2023.

We all would! In fact,I’ve got them on my list to Santa-and he has never let me down yet.

But while the opposition never worries me too much when we head into a match-yes,I know,anything can happen over ninety minutes-VAR does. We are a very good side,too good on most days for the opposition to get near to us. But VAR is more than just a leveller when it is abused in the way we have seen. It can be the difference between winning and losing,and we ignore the danger from this at our peril.

Which,as we have seen,the board are quite happy so to do. 

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Above article by BMCUWP