Former SFA referee takes issue with Michael Stewart’s latest Celtic VAR comments

The controversy over VAR is just not going to go away anytime soon now is it as the penalty awarded against Celtic at Ibrox continues to create headlines.

It seems now that the conversation has moved on from whether or not Fabio Silva dived to how VAR was used to help John Beaton come to his decision to award a yellow card for simulation and, now, to whether or not contact with the ball by Alistair Johnston should have cancelled out the need to make a decision altogether.

Do you have a headache yet? Because I do. Let’s break it down. On 67 Hail Hail yesterday, we covered how Micheal Stewart questioned the use of the VAR footage that was shown to John Beaton at the penalty call.

Stewart said, “I do wonder if Nick Walsh didn’t see the initial touch of the ball, hence why he never showed it. He wouldn’t be alone.

“After the Game, I had to show the touch to someone who was completely unaware of it.”

Now if that is correct and the VAR operator didn’t see the contact then that is hugely concerning considering, well, that’s exactly what the Technology is for.

Des Roache cites ‘laws of the game’ for Celtic call

However, whether or not the VAR operator saw the contact seems to be a moot point as former SFA referee, Des Roache, gave his view on social media on Stewart’s latest comments.

Taking to the Behind The Whistles X account, Roache’s view was, “Sorry @mstewart_23 you need to read up on the Laws of the Game. They are pinned to our Account.

“Des’s view of the unfair contact wording justifies the decision on VAR review. A subjective call.

“Referee is allowed to make that subjective call. While neither of them would have gone with the decision. It’s a subjective call the referee is entitled to make either way.”

So, to sum up, we have now moved on from the dive to now saying that the contact on the ball by Alistair Johnston is irrelevant because the IFAB rules state:

• A challenge or tackle is careless, reckless or uses excessive force (it does not matter if there is contact with the ball or not.
• A player makes unfair contact with the ball and an opponent at the same time or afterwards.

I have a feeling this is going to rumble on for some time yet.

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