Two former referees have delivered a scathing verdict on the process that led to Daizen Maeda’s goal being ruled out during Celtic’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers.
Maeda had believed he had given Celtic the lead after converting Liam Scales’ flick-on from Luke McCowan’s cross, only to see the effort disallowed when VAR identified Scales as being in an offside position during the build-up.
While Des Roache and Steve Conroy accepted that Scales was likely offside, both were highly critical of how the decision was reached and the quality of the lines drawn by the VAR team.
Speaking on their Ref’s View podcast, Roache said the angles used were barely recognisable and questioned whether the standard of line-drawing being applied in Scottish football is acceptable. He acknowledged the fundamental point that being in an offside position is not an offence in itself, but noted that Scales had directly influenced the play by nodding the ball on to Maeda, which is what made the call correct in principle. His frustration was directed not at the decision itself but at the manner in which it was arrived at, asking whether the standard of lines now being produced represents the best Scottish football can offer.
Conroy was even more pointed in his criticism, describing the process as farcical and an absolute joke. He argued that when officials cannot draw the lines properly, they are effectively guessing, and that a guess dressed up as a definitive VAR call is not good enough. He said he had long since stopped trying to understand the SFA’s approach to these situations, and made a direct appeal for the full and proper application of VAR rather than what he described as a watered-down version. His conclusion was blunt: Scottish football deserves better than the current standard of video review being delivered.