VAR has been the biggest change to Scottish football the Celtic fans have seen in years.
The refereeing technology was supposed to help referees come to the correct decision if a clear and obvious error is made on the field of play.
VAR has now become one of the most talked about subjects in Scottish football which is a shame because we have a very exciting title race on our hands.
The video referee should be helping to improve standards and reduce honest mistakes but what we seem to be seeing is match officials looking for any opportunity to chalk off goals, award penalties or issue red cards.
Which makes the one the match officials missed at Celtic Park against Hearts look very strange.
Dexter Lembikisa should have seen red vs Celtic
Former SFA Grade 1 referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy were running the rule over the refereeing decisions made in Celtic’s 3-0 win over Hearts when they said Jambo’s midfielder Dexter Lembikisa should have been sent off for this challenge on James Forrest:
Speaking on their Behind the Whistles podcast the former refs said:
Roache: “I was really surprised, first and foremost, that it wasn’t highlighted on any of the highlights packages, so to speak, whether it be BBC or Sky, etc.
“I wasn’t really aware of it until we were talking this morning. I don’t really see any difference in that challenge from the Yang one that was at Tynecastle. It’s pretty much the same challenge.
“And if you’ve got your studs in the face of a player, listen we all said it was a red card for Yang, if we are going to be consistent and we want to be plausible and credible as commentors, then that’s a red card.”
Conroy: “Yep, there’s no way around it. It’s a red card. We certainly had to state a case when we said that Yang should be sent off but we’re seeing the exact same tackle this time, so it should have the same outcome.
“That should have been a red card. And I agree, I don’t know why that didn’t go to VAR.”
It’s certainly been the talk of social media over the last few days and the fact that a VAR system, that has been over-vigilant trying to find red card offences, missed this is quite baffling.
Thankfully, this missed call didn’t cost Celtic any points like the two VAR spotted at Tynecastle did earlier this season but this does just go to show that the inconsistency in applying the rules using the technology is clear to see and needs to be addressed by the SFA moving forward.