Willie Collum Explains How Officials Express Club “Interests”; Denies Bias

The first edition of the SFA’s brand-new VAR Review show went live yesterday, and it has stirred up a wealth of talking points.

Head of Referees Willie Collum was in the hot seat as he mulled over several contentious decisions from the past month.

He explained how Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi should have been given a penalty on Flag Day against Kilmarnock while delving into other issues.

After the VAR Review went live at 4pm, Collum then appeared on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard.

He was put to the test on the show and asked about referees and their bias.

It is a known fact that certain officials support certain teams, but Collum finds it wrong to assume they will be biased as a result.

“I think it is insulting because it is questioning people’s integrity,” he said (Clyde 1 Superscoreboard via Football Scotland).

“What I would say as well is people say geographically a referee comes from here, or comes from there and has a background as I mentioned earlier – I don’t care about any of these things.

“I want quality, and that is what we (the SFA) judge referees on.”

While referees and those on VAR claim to throw their bias out the window when officiating, some fans find it difficult to see their neutrality when they give favourable decisions to the teams they supposedly support.

It has been suggested that referees not be allowed to take charge of clubs they like, but the SFA judges unavailability on other factors.

Indeed, Collum explained that an official cannot be involved in a Game if he has an ‘interest’ in a club playing in it.

“Referees need to declare an interest,” he said.

“We had a top assistant a couple of years ago and his son was playing for a senior club, even though he was playing for an under-19 club he declared that as an interest.

“Also, if somebody is working for a company that sponsors a particular club, these are the things we would expect the referee to declare an interest in.”

Collum went on to claim that referees remain professional and wouldn’t jeopardise their role by making more advantageous decisions for a certain team.

He wants fans to trust him, and the latest VAR Review show will hold the officials more accountable if they show any partiality.