HibsFan

What is happening today in England with the FA Cup replays backlash is what should’ve happened up here with VAR, except each of our clubs are filled with self-interested wankers who don’t want to admit that they fucked it massively by not consulting the fans first.

Every single manager who arrives to manage either Rangers or Celtic starts out as a 'breath of fresh air' but the mask will inevitably slip before long. Something about having to play up to the hordes. Ange Postecoglou may have managed to pull the wool over some people's eyes, but he will always be a horrible c**t in my eyes.

…moving swiftly on. Kettlewell’s leading the charge.

The example from my lifetime that springs to mind is Golden (and Silver) Goal, which admittedly might not have been as widespread as VAR is, but nonetheless probably looked like a gimmick that was here to stay.

Don't make me tap the sign.

Getting bogged down in the merits of individual decisions is one of the biggest mistakes that nominally ‘anti-VAR’ segments in the Scottish football media make. The question shouldn’t be “was that decision right or wrong”, it should be “right or wrong: was that really worth pausing the game and detracting from the match-going fan’s experience for?”.

Haha, I agree but felt like I had to massage their egos a bit and play the game.

And hot on the heels, I’ve sent this off to the Sportsound email address found online: Dear all, Long-time listener of the Scottish Football Podcast but it’s my first time writing in. I wanted to get the panel’s thoughts on the recent statement made by Motherwell regarding VAR, which can be found here: https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2024/03/20/statement-on-var-decision-against-aberdeen/ The statement talks at length about a recent decision that went against the club against Aberdeen, but that isn’t what I’d like to discuss. Frankly, I’ve heard enough chat on specific VAR decisions to last a lifetime. What caught my attention was the following: This is the first time that I’ve seen a club in Scotland release a statement about VAR that acknowledges match-going fans. When VAR was being voted on up here, almost zero fans were consulted at any of the clubs about this huge change to the way we watch football. Why are the supporters, the people who keep Scottish football going being ignored in the consideration of whether VAR is ‘worth it’? Why has it been decided that the only thing that matters is “getting the right decision”? Something which is an impossible goal in a sport as subjective as football. I know that I am not alone in feeling this way, and I guess my question for the podcast is: when can we expect fans in Scotland, who we are repeatedly told are the lifeblood of the game, going to be given a say in whether they want their matchday experience significantly altered by VAR? Many thanks,

Motherwell have given us a lovely platform to build on there, thanks Steelmen. My writing to Sportsound and the papers is going to use that as a way in to the conversation. Simply put: why has no club properly consulted with their fans about VAR and are the (utterly minuscule) ‘benefits’ of improved accuracy in decisions worth the fans’ enjoyment of the game being spoiled? ETA: genuinely, if you’re anti VAR and said you “canny be fucked” writing to them on this, we’ve got some momentum now. Simply send this part of that Motherwell statement and ask them, in light of what Motherwell have said about the overwhelmingly negative fan response to VAR, what your club’s stance is and whether they plan on asking the support.

Sent mine off to Hibs this morning: That's step one, but now it's time to go to the papers and Sportsound too.

I'm not sure if this is a fair description for a team who are currently joint top of the second tier on goal difference. However, it does make a good point about the enjoyment of watching games. I've only watched a handful of 'neutral' games in Scottish football this season, none of the Premiership ones stick out in my mind at all. The only ones that I can actively remember enjoying watching have been: Morton 2-1 Motherwell (VARless) Raith Rovers 4-4 Ayr (VARless) Raith Rovers 2-1 Dundee United (VARless) The last five minutes of St Mirren 2-1 Aberdeen were hilarious but even that was kicked off by an energy-sapping VAR check.

We now have that ChatGPT for this exact purpose, when I’ve got some free time I’ll get a few templates fired up.

So yes, my story with taking action against VAR is pretty much entirely concentrated to 2022, when it was being floated, voted on and eventually implemented. Sent this email* to Hibs in April of that year and got nothing back at first. A snippet of the closing paragraphs below: *not posting the whole thing as a lot of it was just moaning at the club. Note on my boycott threat: due to personal circumstances I actually haven't been able to attend a game anyway since writing that email, so I've followed through on withholding my money from Hibs even if it hasn't been done purely on moral grounds. After VAR was introduced in October 2022, I went back to the email and realised that I had forgotten to include the SLO's email address and re-sent it (with some additional comments). To paraphrase, the SLO's reply was along the lines of: We were the last major league in Europe to introduce it so we could avoid some of the teething errors () Correct decision-making will help Scottish football to move forward and align us with counterparts in other countries There will still always be incidents, VAR can't resolve everything VAR in Scotland wouldn't have been stopped if Hibs fans had been consulted However I've passed on your feedback about supporters being consulted on issues such as this going forwards Anyway, I didn't bother replying and the post from V.G. jogged my memory that I had actually done it in the first place. Since then, I have mainly resorted to despairing and/or sniping from the sidelines. Is it petty? Definitely. Is it pleasing feeling entirely fucking vindicated by what I wrote in April 2022? Also yes. For people saying "oh how could we have seen what VAR would bring?", here's what I and many others were saying before the clubs had even voted: But V.G.'s post was exactly the shot in the arm I needed to remember what (admittedly little) I can do to try and turn the tide back in the favour of Scottish football fans who are sick and tired of VAR. I know that I am not alone in feeling like this, social media and forums such as this are awash with punters who would happily see the whole thing binned off. So, inspired by the above, I will be taking at least three of those four steps - currently being out of the country limits my chances of being able to call in to Sportsound any time soon - and I would implore others to do the same. The one thing I refuse to accept is that this is the status quo and there's no point complaining about it, we might as well get used to it. There are countless examples of the exact opposite of that sentiment being true, and if we can't overturn VAR completely we can at least make people in charge of it feel a lot less comfortable and smug about their pet project of sacrificing football fans on the altar of 'getting decisions correct'. Again, this thread is not for debating the merits of VAR. It's not for discussing any past, recent or future decisions made by VAR. It's not for suggesting alternatives to VAR. It's not for pondering whether it's the referees at fault rather than the technology. It's not for anybody other than those who feel the same as I do and want to discuss how we can take action, whatever your club may be. Three of the posters I agree with most on this issue (@VincentGuerin, @Dons_1988 and @AJF) support three of the four clubs I like the least in Scotland; it goes beyond any rivalries you may have. I know that there are people all across Scotland who just want to get back to attending a version of football that felt vaguely exciting and enjoyable.

A post that I missed last month from @VincentGuerin in the second iteration of a 'VAR in Scottish football' thread on here has got me thinking about the entirely ineffectual 'fan backlash' to VAR in Scotland to date: Now, to make a few things crystal clear before getting into this. This thread... does not aim to discuss any past or future VAR decisions in Scottish football, there are other threads for this does not seek to argue that one club has been wronged more than others, point-scoring etc is a waste of time makes the case that there is no acceptable form of VAR, again there are other threads for you to discuss VAR Lite etc. is not pretending that fans in Scotland are completely united against VAR; it is talking to those who are already against it has an already extremely limited chance of success, made even slimmer if it descends into debating about VAR itself looks to take inspiration from examples such as the Swedish top flight as proof that we can have a VAR-less league in Scotland What I would like to focus on in is the point raised in the quoted post above. There are plenty of Scottish football fans - not least of all on here - talking the talk about VAR, but who is actually prepared to walk the walk? Personally, the three or four ideas that V.G. proposed in that post are incredibly feasible and realistic suggestions: Write to your club and imply that you are a dissatisfied customer who wonders how much longer you can spend money on football with VAR Write to your club and - at a minimum - express your disappointment and ask when they will be holding consultations with fans about VAR Call up / text in radio programmes and discuss the issue of VAR on a public platform, get the issues fans have with VAR heard by a wider audience Write to newspapers and outline why fans are sick of VAR and what you would like to see happen next Even if each anti-VAR poster on here committed to doing just one of these, it would have the potential to make the stakeholders of Scottish football at least sit up and take notice of supporters again. So, to get a response to this, I've set up a poll detailing some (or all) of the actions anti-VAR people on here would be prepared to take to help lead a fightback against the idea that VAR is here to stay in Scotland. Since being seen to care about things and trying to make your voice heard often gets sneered at in the UK, I've even made the poll anonymous. Lucky you. Anyway, to stop this being too long an opening post, I'll end it here and add another post below where I get into answering the 'well that's all well and good, but what have you done, mate?' question that will inevitably be coming my way.

That bloke’s a p***k and I’m glad he got a ban, if anything a year is lenient given what people can get handed for setting off a smokebomb. When can we expect your condemnation of the entire Hearts end at Hampden en-masse singing “Oh the Hibees are gay” in 2006, 2012, as well as at multiple derbies at Tynecastle down the years?