sport news GARY KEOWN: Rodgers and Kettlewell must learn Laws of the Game before they ... trends now
THE concession from the SFA’s independent review panel that there have been 10 mighty foul-ups by Scotland’s leading officials in top-flight matches since February did little other than tell us what we already knew. That VAR is getting worse rather than better.
What’s more, you could probably tattoo the full names of all the people who believe those statistics to be correct on the ocellus of a chalcid wasp. Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes expressed the view there were way more than the 26 errors admitted by the SFA for the entire season so far in the space of one weekend not so long ago.
Hibernian, meanwhile, are still struck dumb by the decision to let Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin off with handling the ball in the box — his arm stretched out like Concorde’s wing — during a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie failing to take pride of place on the Roll of Shame.
It is absolutely clear that the use of VAR in the Premiership is now at crisis point. Polls of fans at clubs across the country show they want rid of it. Aberdeen pretty much said the same in a public statement.
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell, meanwhile, was unequivocal in his midweek view that the game would be much better the way it used to be. He certainly won’t have to look hard for recruits if he fancies taking the torch-and-pitchfork brigade to Clydesdale House on a quiet day during summer to raze the place to the ground.
That the SFA and their incoming head of refereeing need to work out some radical plans to improve things ahead of next term is crystal-clear.
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The system has become discredited. The officials running the technology don’t look up to it. Mistakes are being made that defy explanation. It is descending week-by-week into ever greater chaos with the loudest noise now coming from managers and players within the game. And that, if the game’s leaders didn’t need told, is a major problem.
Look, there are two roads to take. We go the way of Sweden, where half of the top clubs were found to be against video reviews, and knock it on the head.
Hard as VAR is to defend, though, even for those of us who hang grimly onto the belief it can be a valuable tool in the right hands, is adopting an isolationist policy really going to help improve the grim standard of refereeing in this country?
Is cutting our officials off from VAR going to improve their chances of becoming involved in top-level international competition? The answer is probably no. So, with that in mind, the game itself needs to reflect with urgency on what can be done to find rapid solutions.
The summer departure of current SFA refereeing chief Crawford Allan, leaving after a vote of no confidence from the clubs, buys those inside Hampden a bit of time. But not much. His successor and those above him really need to come out strongly before the start of next season with a serious plan of action. If certain managers remain opposed, so be it. However, there needs to be a greater show on good faith on their part, too. Some of the stuff from their side of the argument has been risible.
If the SFA must do better, the likes of Kettlewell and Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, to name but two, must do better as well. They really ought to learn the Laws of the Game before they start lunging into their own two-footed tackles on
