SFA bottle out of demanding UEFA release audio from VAR officials

The SFA don’t want UEFA to release the audio from the disputed Scott McTominay ‘goal’ against Spain on Thursday night.

With the match goal-less the Manchester United midfielder fired in a free-kick that found the net with minimal interference from Jack Hendry.

On Viaplay Sport, who have access to the VAR conversations the ‘goal’ was initially disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper, later in the match an image was produced to show that Hendry was in an offside position when the ball hit the net.

The VAR conversation is the issue that most fans are curious to hear but it seems that the SFA want to keep that out of their enquiry.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, SFA President Mike Mulraney said:

We’ve asked for clarity, we’ve not asked for the audio. We’ve asked for clarity and an understanding of what the process was. We’ve got a responsibility to our fans and the nation. We need to represent our nation properly.

It’s not just Scotland who have been questioning this. I’ve had messages from all over Europe asking: ‘what happened?’

My answer is, I don’t know. Transparency is very important and that’s what we’ve asked for. I’m sure Uefa will be forthcoming with an explanation, which we can then give out.

It seems that transparency isn’t so important in Scottish football where the SFA keep silent on all VAR related issues, refusing to share images for offside decisions being a prime example.

Other sports are happy to share their audio commentary but that appears to be an issue that the SFA are determined to avoid.

A year on from introducing VAR to SPFL Premiership matches one club has managed to extend to 62 matches their run of fixtures without having a penalty awarded against them.

Without audio and a timeline on the decision UEFA will inform the SFA that Hendry was offside and supply the image used for the decision.