Has VAR helped Scottish football?

By Euan Smith

Is it time for a review on VAR? (Image: Getty Images)

VAR has split opinions over the few years it has been in place. Many fans think if it was being run correctly, it would be smooth sailing in Scotland. On many occasions this season, the SFA have written VAR reviews and highlighted all the mistakes that have been made throughout that given month.

Throughout the weekend, people more people are now watching the games to find refereeing mistakes rather than watching the game.

Sportscene host Steven Thompson said: “Since it’s been introduced, it seems that every weekend we are doing four and five VAR decisions - focusing on that instead of the actual football, and it’s a football show.”

This shows there’s something not quite right with the running of the technology in Scotland, and it is pushing fans away from watching football.

Fans have been so invested in the mistakes throughout the season that they have made a league table showing the amount of decisions to go for and against each team in the league.:

 

In Scottish football, there aren’t as many camera angles available for the referee to look at, so sometimes, it is difficult to come to the correct decision.

Thompson said: “At our games, there generally aren’t as many cameras, for instance, we don’t have the Hawkeye for the goal line, we usually only have six and eight cameras, but other leagues have over 20 to 30 covering each game.”

So, if they want VAR to progress it would need clubs to sacrifice more funding to make the upgrades which at this stage many will be reluctant to do, as it takes away from the clubs’ playing budgets.

Also, many fans think if the SFA employed permanent staff to run VAR instead of having a running cycle with the same referees that are on the pitch making the mistakes week on week that it would be much smoother. Time will tell as to whether the new SFA Head of Refereeing, Willie Collum, a former on-field referee, will improve things on the VAR front.

SportEuan Smith