Former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy have criticised VAR and the decision to disallow Daizen Maeda’s Celtic goal against Rangers.
Maeda believed he had given Celtic the lead in their victory at Ibrox, but the celebration was quickly cut short when VAR stepped in and judged Liam Scales to be offside.
The decision was extremely close, with Roache describing the offside as ‘barely recognisable’, while Conroy condemned the ‘farcical’ use of the video technology.
Ex-SFA referee Des Roache criticises VAR ‘standards’ in Rangers vs Celtic flashpoint
First up is Des Roache, who explained that although he believes Scales was offside, the former SFA official insisted that VAR made it difficult to reach a completely accurate decision.
Roache said on The Ref’s View “It’s barely recognisable. I mean, the angles aren’t great.
“But when you look at the way the play had progressed, Scales comes back from an offside position. Being offside isn’t an offense in itself. So you can be there.
But the first thing that he does, he materially impacts the game, because it’s him that nods the head, nods the ball on to Maeda. So that’s it.
“The buck stops there. He’s came back from there. But the standard of lines that we’re getting drawn now, is that where we’re at now in Scottish football?”
Steve Conroy fumes at VAR call on Maeda’s Celtic goal
Steve Conroy was far harsher in his criticism of the VAR decision as the former referee admitted he has ‘given up’ trying to understand how the video referee system is implemented in Scotland.
Conroy replied, “An assumption is a guess. Let’s not beat about the bush. I’ve long since given up trying to fathom what the SFA do. One week, it’s two lines. One week, it’s not.
“We’re guessing, we can’t get the lines drawn anyway, so we’re just going to have a wee go at it. It is becoming farcical, and it’s making us look like country yokels.
“It’s an absolute joke, not taken away from the fact that I think Scales was offside. But just give us it the way it should be. We don’t want diet VAR. Just give us the full fat version.
“It’s an absolute nonsense.”
There are already discussions among Celtic fans online suggesting that Djiga might have played Scales onside, but without the proper version of VAR, they may never find out.
Celtic supporters and football fans across Scotland are increasingly frustrated with the technology continuing to get major decisions wrong, and many are now calling for VAR to be scrapped altogether.