The SPFL "VAR Disaster" Hall of Fame

So much of football feels unpredictable. However consistently a team seems to be performing, there’s always a chance that they’ll show up to a dead rubber game and do absolutely nothing worthy of a title holder.

That’s part of why we love it.

But there’s so much of football that should feel reliable and consistent, particularly now that we have this additional layer of refereeing introduced to take the subjectivity out of on-pitch decisions…right? Well, for the most part, wrong. VAR has disrupted football on an international level, and while it sometimes works for the best, it also has plenty of flop moments, too.

Especially in the SPFL.

Who Can Forget..?

While the hall of fame stretches back quite far (far enough) these days, we couldn’t start this list with anything other than what has been dubbed the worst VAR decision ever made in the SPFL: Celtic’s May 2026 match against Motherwell. Yes, you remember it. 

The match was already into stoppage time when referee Beaton was encouraged to review a supposed handball in Motherwell’s box – a handball that was, even by modern handball standards, iffy at best.

Still, it was ruled that Celtic should receive a penalty, which earned them the match and which cast aside growing doubts over their ability to beat Hearts to the season title. There was a lot of backlash against Celtic – backlash that will shadow them throughout the new season, too. True, Celtic will start the new campaign as odds-on favourites for leading bookmakers like CloudBet, but they have an uphill battle against at least one team.

It’s fair to say that the refs received their fair share of scrutiny, too, with conspiracy feelings surrounding on-pitch decisions swirling around Celtic’s fifth consecutive trophy lift at the end of the season.

Do We Have Time for This One…?

Same season, very different circumstances for Dundee and Kilmarnock in April of this year – though no less painful for the SFA refs, both in the moment, and following the final whistle.

What appeared to be a run-of-the-mill penalty check took no less than six minutes as the screen struggled (and eventually failed) to draw the lines in a check for off-side. While Dundee were ultimately awarded the penalty – and without the same controversy surrounding their eventual draw with Kilmarnock that Celtic suffered – fans, players, and managers were furious at the unacceptable wait for what should have been a simple call.

In fact, Willie Collum, head of refereeing for the Scottish FA, had to step out in defense of the premiership’s use of VAR.

Are You Paying Attention…?

Think back to November 2022, when Celtic were 2-1 up against Dundee and conceded a penalty under what was, perhaps, the most literal interpretation of handball rules that Scottish football has seen in living memory.

Argentinian Alexandro Bernabei was defending the Celtic box against a Dundee attack, when he jumped up in an attempt to head the ball. At the time, his back was turned to the ball, which ended up hitting him on the back of the elbow to stop a possible Celtic equaliser.

Referee David Dickinson awarded the penalty, and the match ended in a draw. While some Celtic fans defended the decision, it will always be known as one of the strangest interpretations of the handball rule most of us have ever seen