If Scottish Football Wants VAR — Then It Needs To Stop Using The Poundland Version.

If Scottish football is serious about VAR, then here’s a radical idea – get serious VAR.

Because what we watched during Celtic’s 2-1 win over St Mirren on Saturday night wasn’t a great advert for Scottish football. In fact, for a game deliberately sitting there on Sky Sports on a Saturday evening, trying to showcase our product to a wider audience, parts of it looked amateurish at best.

First, an important distinction.

Scotland isn’t literally using some dodgy VAR system bought from Temu.

The SPFL introduced VAR in October 2022 using Hawk-Eye technology. That’s a major provider used across elite-level football and other sports worldwide.

So the technology itself isn’t necessarily the problem.

It’s the version of VAR Scottish football has decided it can afford to operate.

Saturday Night Summed Up The Problem.

Take what happened against St Mirren.

Camilo Duran thought he had scored for us, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Now, I’m not even sitting here definitively telling you the decision was wrong.

That’s not really my point.

The image used to demonstrate the offside created another question – where is the definitive evidence within that image showing the exact moment the ball leaves Yang Hyun-jun?

Another angle appeared to give a clearer indication of the Duran’s positioning when Yang crosses, but wasn’t used.

If we’re using technology to decide offsides by tiny margins, surely both things have to be absolutely clear?

Where is the attacker?

And exactly when was the ball played?

Then came an even more bizarre situation involving Shim Mheuka’s goal.

VAR couldn’t produce the calibrated offside lines required to determine the decision in the normal way, meaning referee Ryan Lee was sent over to the monitor to essentially make a visual judgement from the available pictures.

VAR without the VAR lines.

Excellent.

At that stage, what are we actually doing?

We’ve stopped the match. We’ve delayed the celebration. Everybody inside the stadium is waiting around. Supporters watching at home are staring at replays.

All of the disruption associated with VAR remains.

Except the technology required to give us the supposedly definitive answer isn’t working.

That’s the worst of both worlds.

We’ve Seen This Movie Before

This isn’t some completely new problem either.

Remember Jota’s disallowed goal at Fir Park against Motherwell in 2022?

That decision became infamous because of the angle eventually shown to supporters.

Rather than something resembling the straight, clear offside images we’d become accustomed to seeing elsewhere, it looked like somebody was trying to judge an offside from another postcode.

The Scottish FA later explained that the relevant 18-yard-line camera hadn’t captured an appropriate view and Hawk-Eye therefore calibrated the offside decision using footage from a camera at the opposite end of the stadium.

What Are Scottish Clubs Actually Paying For?

That’s the question I want answered.

If stadium infrastructure is limiting what can be installed, let’s have that conversation.

If certain Premiership clubs cannot afford the camera setup required for a more sophisticated system, tell us.

Should the SPFL itself need to invest more money centrally, let’s discuss that too.

But somebody needs to explain why Scottish football believes this level of provision is acceptable.

There are practical difficulties here. Every Premiership stadium is different, camera positions vary and installing substantially more equipment costs money.

I understand all of that.

Yet we’re talking about professional football being broadcast internationally.

At some stage, “it costs money” stops being a sufficient answer.

Scottish football wants more money from broadcasters.

We want better commercial deals.

Clubs want greater exposure.

Supporters constantly hear discussions about growing the Scottish game and improving the value of the product.

Well, the product was sitting there on Sky Sports on Saturday night.

What did viewers see?

A major decision where supporters were left debating whether the correct frame had been used, followed by another where the calibrated VAR offside lines couldn’t even be produced.

Imagine watching that as a neutral accustomed to Premier League or Champions League coverage.

It looks cheap.

And Scottish football cannot simultaneously operate elements of its product on the cheap while complaining that people aren’t willing to pay premium prices for it.

VAR Already Takes Something Away From Football.

That’s the question I want answered.

If stadium infrastructure is limiting what can be installed, let’s have that conversation.

If certain Premiership clubs cannot afford the camera setup required for a more sophisticated system, tell us.

Should the SPFL itself need to invest more money centrally, let’s discuss that too.

But somebody needs to explain why Scottish football believes this level of provision is acceptable.

There are practical difficulties here. Every Premiership stadium is different, camera positions vary and installing substantially more equipment costs money.

I understand all of that.

Yet we’re talking about professional football being broadcast internationally.

At some stage, “it costs money” stops being a sufficient answer.

Scottish football wants more money from broadcasters.

We want better commercial deals.

Clubs want greater exposure.

Supporters constantly hear discussions about growing the Scottish game and improving the value of the product.

Well, the product was sitting there on Sky Sports on Saturday night.

What did viewers see?

A major decision where supporters were left debating whether the correct frame had been used, followed by another where the calibrated VAR offside lines couldn’t even be produced.

Imagine watching that as a neutral accustomed to Premier League or Champions League coverage.

It looks cheap.

And Scottish football cannot simultaneously operate elements of its product on the cheap while complaining that people aren’t willing to pay premium prices for it.

VAR Already Takes Something Away From Football

This is the part that bothers me most.

Before VAR, the ball hit the net and you celebrated.

Now?

Goal goes in.

Celebrate.

Stop.

Look at the referee.

Wait.

Look towards the screen.

Wait some more.

Eventually somebody tells you whether you’re actually allowed to enjoy the goal you celebrated two minutes ago.

We’ve accepted that loss of spontaneity because we were promised something in return.

Accuracy.

That’s the deal.

VAR sucks some of the raw emotion out of the biggest moment in football, but supposedly gives us more correct decisions.

Fine.

I can accept that trade-off if the technology is genuinely capable of delivering those decisions.

What I struggle to accept is losing the emotion and still being left arguing over whether the available camera angle was suitable.

That’s madness.

If you’re going to interrupt football to determine whether someone’s kneecap is offside, then give the officials every possible tool required to make that call accurately.

Spend The Money Or Rethink It

I’m not demanding Premier League levels of spending across every aspect of Scottish football.

Our revenues aren’t comparable and pretending otherwise would be ridiculous.

But VAR isn’t some optional wee extra anymore.

Once you’ve introduced it and made it responsible for potentially season-defining decisions, you’ve got an obligation to operate it to the highest realistic standard.

More cameras.

Better angles.

Reliable calibrated lines.

Whatever infrastructure upgrades are reasonably required.

If that costs Scottish football more money, then perhaps Scottish football needs to spend more money.

Because right now we’ve got all the negatives associated with VAR without always having the confidence in its biggest supposed positive.

And Saturday night’s match should be another warning.

Celtic won, so this isn’t me screaming conspiracy because a result went against us.

My argument is much simpler.

If Duran is offside, show me he’s offside properly.

If Mheuka is onside, show me he’s onside properly.

I don’t want guesswork. I don’t want bizarre angles. I certainly don’t want referees looking at a monitor because the system designed to determine offsides can’t draw the bloody lines.

Scottish football wants to be taken seriously.

It wants broadcasters and sponsors to take it seriously.

Most importantly, it wants supporters to continue paying serious money to watch it.

Then stop serving up Poundland VAR.

If we’re having VAR in Scotland, give us the real thing.