GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 07: Referee John Beaton and Willie Collum during a cinch Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on April 07, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
The horrific standard of refereeing in Scottish football was again highlighted over the weekend. VAR was centre stage.
On Saturday evening it was St Mirren that suffered as Andrew Dallas decided to release VAR lines to disallow what would have been a fifth minute goal for Marcus Fraser.
ROBERTSON, AGAIN
Don Robertson took centre stage on Sunday. It wasn’t a game changing decision but his overall performance takes its toll.
Celtic were strong enough to over Kilmarnock 4-0 but on another day they could have dropped points with a foul count of 14-4 against the team that had 74.4% possession.
Across most of Europe that sort of pattern would be highlighted and newsworthy. In the SPFL Premiership it is the way to climb the career ladder to the top in refereeing.
Could somebody please enlighten me on how the VAR team chooses the picture to use to show the public they got the decision correct?
Pic1)
St Mirren v HibsPic2)
Celtic v RangersPic3)
Motherwell v Celtic
(Jota offside camera malfunction) pic.twitter.com/CQtNuOG1RK— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) November 9, 2025
Over the last two weekends Dallas has been involved in disallowing two goals based on his own manual version of VAR.
In midweek fans across Europe watched proper VAR decisions involving their team.
SFA V UEFA
Straight forward graphics for every offside decision. For and against. It can get very frustrating but there are no after thoughts. The decisions are fair.
When the ball is played by an attacker play is halted. The graphics kick in and you see who is in front of or behind the line. Except for viewers in Scotland.
A third rate VAR system is appropriate for the level of Scottish officials but denies teams, players, managers and fans justice.
For reasons that have never been explained Scottish referees draw two lines, neither really tell very much with one still image sent to the broadcaster to justify the outcome.
Imagine that being used in a Liverpool v Real Madrid Champions League match? Not a chance.
Yet that is the system in Scotland. No club has complained about it. Across UEFA competitions you get cutting edge decisions. In Scotland they trust the big decisions to guys like Andrew Dallas.
He has previous with St Mirren, awarding four penalties against them at Ibrox in February 2019.
Strong words from Michael Stewart, claiming the VAR officials are trying to cover up a mistake when disallowing St Mirren’s opening goal. https://t.co/J7oNojDNt0
— DavyH (@Pilgrim_73) November 9, 2025
I’ve been asking that very question for ages ? The only thing missing is a third white line …a blue , red and white triple set of confusing lines , to accompany their tacit agenda . What about the old BBC in englandland being described as ‘ institutionally biased ‘ by little englanders ? Too late …lots of folks have been accusing the Scottish version of the nationally funded broadcaster of exactly the same disgraceful practice for decades … especially towards one football clumpany – Mark 1 and Mark 2 ! There is no hiding place for the BBC now . Hold it’s feet to the fire at every opportunity as reform and fundamental change has to take place . The days of the ‘ pals act ‘ between ex theRangers players and affiliates being employed continually and given preference over all others ..must stop , now ! It’s all ‘ gripping ‘ stuff ?
I think only Mab, or the Queen of the Fairies, knows the answer to that question!
Two thick lines at The SFA Var centre – Orange And sectarian lines me thinks !
Is it because they are the only coloured crayons that they’ve got?
Red and blue?
I think the 2 lines and colourings are standard for non-automatic offsides, I’ve certainly seen them in the EPL and I wouldn’t be surprised if the SFA simply copied from there.
The blue line is for the defender and then either green (onside) or red (offside).
In England, they used to show the graphic without annotation, so you could see the answer while the commentators were still jabbering on, ignorantly debating it.
Hi Joe
Can you or any posters advise or have knowledge of the cost differential between the etch-a-sketch version of VAR used by the SFA and the professional version of UEFA /FIFA. Follow the Gene Tunney. !!
For me there is an obvious wraparound sponsorship with Specsavers and the referees, which is a hilariously appropriate sponsorship within the game.
Is this something yourself or the Trinity Tim’s might want a deeper dive into. Upgrade of this VAR system and its use of automatic technology is imperative in moving away from the Lanarkshire Referees Associations inherrant bias and towards providing a level playing playing field.
Editor: I don’t know the cost but proper VAR is installed for UEFA matches at Celtic Park, Hampden, Ibrox and Pittodrie then pulled out and back to etch-a-sketch for SPFL matches, often switched off for domestic cup ties.