VAR in Scottish Football

[Swami]

Referee Willie Collum has yearned for the day VAR is introduced to Scottish football so officials are not the headline makers after games. 
 

Willie has never liked being the centre of attention, you see. 

[DukDukGoose]

12 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

Well, all the managers seem into it.

https://twitter.com/ScotlandSky/status/1580295795374530571

 

Of course they want it. There's probably little enjoyment in the game for them.

[Rodhull]

I imagine the referees are partly for it as the absence of VAR here also must harm their chances of being picked for important European and international matches if they're not regularly using the system.

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

14 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

Well, all the managers seem into it.

https://twitter.com/ScotlandSky/status/1580295795374530571

 

They're always going to say that if asked at the "VAR Media event"

Davidson was asked last week on the radio and he didn't sound overly sure about it...

Edited October 14, 2022 by SJFCtheTeamForMe

[Charles Stiles]

5 hours ago, Swami said:

Referee Willie Collum has yearned for the day VAR is introduced to Scottish football so officials are not the headline makers after games. 
 

Willie has never liked being the centre of attention, you see. 

Quite right Willie. The VAR officials are never headline makers after games. 

[Dons_1988]

Two factors with managers:

1. Most of them will probably feel at some point that a refereeing decision has had a material impact on their managerial career (rightly or wrongly) and will want to mitigate that.

2. The clubs have taken a decision here to almost unanimously introduce without any consultation with fans, there’s a clear effort to get some PR on this. I suspect some managers won’t be as enthusiastic about it as they’re letting on. 

[VincentGuerin]

1 hour ago, Dons_1988 said:

Two factors with managers:

1. Most of them will probably feel at some point that a refereeing decision has had a material impact on their managerial career (rightly or wrongly) and will want to mitigate that.

2. The clubs have taken a decision here to almost unanimously introduce without any consultation with fans, there’s a clear effort to get some PR on this. I suspect some managers won’t be as enthusiastic about it as they’re letting on. 

They don't watch games to enjoy them. We do.

Their views aren't on the same thing as ours are.

[HibsFan]

So, just to confirm, the only aspect of technology in football which has (almost flawlessly) improved accuracy in decisions without detracting from the match-going fan’s experience of live football will not be featuring in Scottish football VAR, but just the highly contentious stuff instead? I am fully onboard now, let’s just sit back and laugh at it as it crashes and burns.

[kingjoey]

6 minutes ago, HibsFan said:

So, just to confirm, the only aspect of technology in football which has (almost flawlessly) improved accuracy in decisions without detracting from the match-going fan’s experience of live football will not be featuring in Scottish football VAR, but just the highly contentious stuff instead? I am fully onboard now, let’s just sit back and laugh at it as it crashes and burns.

Ever since I first saw it in action on TV I've not wanted the VAR system anywhere near Scottish football. Now realising what we're actually getting is mind boggling. It's half arsed f*ck*ng pish. It feels more and more that we're only getting this pish system so that the powers that be can say, "look we're a big league, we've got VAR." Disaster written all over this.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

Exactly.

And when you see VAR-gimps spouting lines like "The St Johnstone goal would have been ruled out by VAR on Saturday" it actually just makes me weep.

[craigkillie]

I assume they'll be able to do the goal-line stuff with the VAR cameras rather than having to use the technology, but maybe I'm wrong.

[The Master]

1 minute ago, craigkillie said:

I assume they'll be able to do the goal-line stuff with the VAR cameras rather than having to use the technology, but maybe I'm wrong.

There won’t be any goal-line cameras except for Sky live games, so it’ll be be very difficult to judge marginal decisions. 

[DukDukGoose]

36 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I assume they'll be able to do the goal-line stuff with the VAR cameras rather than having to use the technology, but maybe I'm wrong.

Not every game. So you'll know what that means...

Spoiler

How VAR will work in Scottish football

By Jordan Campbell

Oct 14, 2022

10

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VAR has yet to be used in Scotland but Crawford Allan is already pleading for patience.

The Scottish FA’s head of refereeing and his officials are preparing for the arrival of VAR next Friday but in his plea for sanity to clubs, players and fans he admits it may be “naive” to expect such contrition.

After all, it is only a matter of time before Clydesdale House, the offices which house the Scottish FA’s new hub, likely becomes the nucleus of a rehashed online conspiracy theory regarding biased decision-making.

It has the same kind of Silicon Valley ring to it as England’s equivalent of Stockley Park but there are no plans to have the windows boarded up, Line of Duty-style, just yet.

“There will be a different kind of controversial,” Allan says.

“Having lived and operated in the goldfish bowl that is Scottish football, I’m very well aware of the scrutiny our guys are under. This will only ramp it up as there will be an expectancy that we should be getting more right, and we will get more right.

“The stat we’ve used before around key decisions is that it goes from 92 or 93 per cent to 98 or 99 per cent success.”

Clubs voted in favour of VAR in April and they have now built a facility with six stations, each of which will have three people operating an individual game and a supervisor overseeing in case of any technical problems.

One drawback is that there will be no goal-line technology used in addition to VAR, a decision that was made due to the costs involved and means there will be a discrepancy between the 12 grounds, as only some will have extra cameras to cover the goal.

But Allan is hoping that being late adopters to the technology will allow them to make a smooth entry into this new world and win over supporters.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous but it’s a nervous anticipation,” he says.

“It has been proven during all of our test matches that it will help us get the vast majority of the big decisions spot-on. There will always be a line in the sand where an opinion will kick in.

“There is certainly an element of learning from other countries when they have rolled this out. The analogy I would use is, the guys and girls have their driving licence now, FIFA have approved us, but anyone who drives knows you get better at it the more you do it, you get less clunky and you get used to the system.

“I know it will be a little bit frustrating but I would rather wait 10-15 seconds longer and get a decision right than put pressure on them to say, ‘You need to do it quicker, you need to do it quicker’. They might get a decision wrong then. Getting it right is the key.”

VAR was due to be brought into the Premiership after the World Cup but it was brought forward to go live next week when Hibernian host St Johnstone next Friday.

Its introduction after teams have played 10 or 11 of the 38 matchdays has split opinion as to whether it jeopardises the sporting integrity of the competition.

“It’s a massive positive,” says Allan. “Getting a project of this size — involving 12 teams, a new production centre, getting all the clubs to agree and all the refs trained — ahead of time and slightly under budget is something I’m quite proud of.

“I’m a massive advocate of improving the product that we’ve got on the field of play. In the transfer window in January, clubs will sign new players and have the opportunity to improve midway through a season.

“If a match is delayed in December and played in February they aren’t told they can’t use that new player. I like to think that VAR is like my new player. Clubs get the chance, why can’t referees?”

Allan believes it is a media narrative driving concerns about the potential for there to be controversy come the end of the season, if a team who would have benefited from VAR before it was brought in end up on the wrong end of a decision in the remaining games.

He confirmed that all 12 teams wanted it to start as soon as possible, which is why they have gone for it ahead of schedule.

“There was never any opportunity of us getting it ready for August. We had to put in fibre-optics, new camera positions in, communication systems for the referee to speak to the centre here,” he says.

“To build all that and wait until next August would be nonsensical. You have a product ready to improve your game. I can just see the phone call from an irate manager in January asking why that penalty wasn’t given when you’ve got VAR sitting there not being used. It’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

To be capable of refereeing VAR games, the officials have been assessed on 150 different incidents of varying difficulty. Their records were added to FIFA’s analysis register in December, which allowed them to move onto five months of simulations at Scotland’s national training centre at Oriam, before spending 8-10 weeks in the VAR hub performing mock runs.

The Scottish FA’s technology and officials were approved by UEFA two weeks ago when they were visited by Michael Bailey, who oversaw the introduction of VAR into the Australian game.

“They were so impressed by what we have built here as there are not many countries that go straight to a centralised facility,” says Allan.

“So it’s a massive thank you to the Scottish FA for their investment and to the SPFL clubs for voting and funding this place. We’re up there with La Liga, Premier League, UEFA’s centre. We’ve got the best.”

The clubs considered a dozen different companies after putting the contract out to tender but they decided on Hawk-Eye, which is the most-widely recognised system in use.

Those operating VAR will be category-one officials, which has meant they have had to grow their pool. They have introduced six new referees to the Premiership this season and now have 18 category-one officials working every weekend with six at Clydesdale House — chosen over Hampden Park so that they are close to broadcast partner QTV should there be any technical issues.

Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell did admit this week that people at UEFA had warned him the first few months will be “horrendous” but Allan says that is the experience of every member association as people adjust to VAR’s existence.

Scotland is following FIFA’s guide of how to operate the technology and so VAR can only overrule an on-field decision if it is a “clear and obvious error” or a “serious incident” that has been missed.

The four types of decisions that it will be ruling on are: straight red-card decisions (not yellow cards or second yellows), goal/no-goal decisions, penalties and mistaken identity.

Offside calls are when the technology will be tested most. There are a minimum of six cameras that will be used in every Premiership game — above FIFA’s minimum requirement of four — and they calibrate every camera hours before kick-off so that the offside lines can be calculated from any angle, regardless of whether the camera is in line with play or not.

There now has to be a visible gap between the two lines distinguishing the deepest defender and most advanced attacker for it to be ruled offside. Initially, if only a striker’s toe was offside then it was called as offside but this change in protocol in major leagues gives a marginal advantage to the attacker.

“I know some people find it a challenge to say, ‘Why has the assistant not flagged, that’s a blatant offside’. If it’s blatant, the assistant can still flag,” he says.

“Now we want play to move on in case a goal is scored. Yes, there is a risk, and this has been in play for six years or so in other countries, that there could be a possible injury. The chances of that happening versus a cracking goal being scored and the assistant giving the wrong decision and killing football at that moment… history is showing ‘bear with us’.”

Referees will not go to the screen at the side of the pitch for offside calls, unless it is to look at a player blocking a goalkeeper’s line of vision. Essentially, if it is a factual call then there is no need but with so much subjectivity still around they will communicate with VAR to determine whether their interpretation matches those available on the replay.

VAR cannot tell the referee what decision to make, they can only recommend. If it is a controversial decision, the referee will be encouraged to go to the screen and make clear that he has had the chance to review the decision with his own eyes. As he approaches, the referee will hear what replays he is about to be shown.

Allan is vowing to stick to the guidance of minimum interference, with referees only having to go to the monitor once every three games on average. He is not overly concerned about the time taken for stoppages to check close decisions but admits that fans will likely have to get used to six or seven minutes of stoppage time being added at the end of a half when substitutions are taken into account.

Scottish football has had to wait for VAR — Allan hopes it will be worth it.

 

[craigkillie]

The fact there aren't goal-line cameras doesn't mean they can't make goal-line decisions surely? They'll still be able to use the technology to make offside decisions on incidents where the players aren't directly in line with a camera, so why would goals be different? There might be the odd one where it's so obscured by players that they can't, but those will be rare.

[Arch Stanton]

6 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

There might be the odd one where it's so obscured by players that they can't...

 

[Ray Patterson]

15 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

 

Difference with that one is that there will be a camera on the 18 yard line to help in that situation.

[Ginaro]

As mentioned there will be 15 yard cameras, you can see them here - also at 4:20 in these highlights looks like Killie got away with one, may well have been onside with the lines drawn next weekend. 

There's only England, Germany, Italy and other countries with a few clubs (including Celtic Park, Hampden, Ibrox) which have GLT, so most leagues with VAR rely on cameras not GLT for decisions. Of course extra cameras in line with each goal would be a good idea.

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Ginaro

[Leith Green]

10 hours ago, craigkillie said:

The fact there aren't goal-line cameras doesn't mean they can't make goal-line decisions surely? They'll still be able to use the technology to make offside decisions on incidents where the players aren't directly in line with a camera, so why would goals be different? There might be the odd one where it's so obscured by players that they can't, but those will be rare.

I agree.

In The Athletic article quoted on the previous page, it was noted that they use technology to determine offside red and blue lines - even if the camera is not entirely in line with the incident.

I struggle to see why this cant be utilised for goal line incidents as well in a similar way as hawkeye renders the tight calls in tennis.

[DukDukGoose]

11 hours ago, craigkillie said:

The fact there aren't goal-line cameras doesn't mean they can't make goal-line decisions surely? They'll still be able to use the technology to make offside decisions on incidents where the players aren't directly in line with a camera, so why would goals be different? There might be the odd one where it's so obscured by players that they can't, but those will be rare.

I'm just further highlighting the shambles of more cameras at certain games.

[The Master]

The technology for offsides supports the drawing of lines while accounting for parallax. 

While you could in theory draw lines to see if the ball has crossed the line, how would you know exactly which frame to take the still from? With offside, you pick the last one before the ball has left the passer’s foot. There’s no such reference point for the ball on its own…unless you have a goal-line camera, in which case the whole thing is moot.