The Celtic supporters have finally been given an explanation of why Kyogo Furuhashi was denied a penalty against Kilmarnock at Parkhead on the opening Scottish Premiership game of the season.
The Japanese striker was taken out by Kilmarnock goalkeeper, Ross McCrorie as he looked to get onto the end of a flicked free kick my former Celtic hero, Matt O’Riley.
And as Kyogo was about to make contact with the ball, McCrorie ran out and completely wiped the Celtic striker out.
The matchday referee and VAR operator on the day was Don Robertson with the whistle and Greg Aitken operated the video technology.
And as the debate raged by former refs and pundits on whether or not the decision to deny Celtic the penalty was right or wrong, the SFA has released the audio and footage of the incident to provide clarity on how the officials came to their decision.
VAR explains Celtic penalty decision
In a new monthly podcast released last night by the SFA called The VAR Review, the footage shows all the steps and stages of how the officials came to their decision and it will be of serious interest to the Celtic fans.
And this is how the conversation went:
Referee: “No, no. Not for me.”
VAR: “Can you show me it again? I think that’s the exact same as earlier.”
Referee: “When he comes out it looks like the goalkeeper makes himself bigger. I don’t see a second movement or anything but I’m not in a good angle.
VAR: “Although I think he’s maybe getting the ball. But it’s a natural collision, isn’t it?”
Referee: “Let the VAR check. Let them check.”
VAR: “Don, still checking the potential penalty. Can we see the free kick?”
Referee: “I don’t know if he’s just made himself big and not moved or if he’s taken him out afterwards.”
VAR: “So I think he’s just made himself big and not moved.”
Willie Collum’s verdict on Celtic VAR decision
The new SFA Head of Referees, Willie Collum spoke about the decision and said the decision both Don Robertson and Greg Aitken came to was wrong.
Collum said “We believe this was the wrong decision. We have coached the referees and the VARs that a penalty kick should have been awarded here.
It is an unexpected free-kick with the way the ball is chipped. It catches the on-field referee by surprise and it’s very difficult for the referee to find an angle round that wall to get a proper view.
“The Celtic player clearly gets ahead and touches the ball past the goalkeeper and we then think the goalkeeper’s actions are reckless. An off-field review should have been requested and the referee asked to come to the monitor.”
Indeed, the admission is of little comfort now that the game is over and Celtic did run out eventual 4-0 winners but the concern here is that at the first time of asking in a new season, the match officials got a clear penalty decision wrong even with the use of VAR.
And as we all know, this is not the first time Celtic have been impacted by controversial VAR decisions since its introduction in October 2021.
Whilst the transparency offered by Willie Collum here is welcomed, the fact that the officials are getting relatively straight-forward decisions like this one wrong is still a concern amongst the Celtic support and there needs to be a point where decision improvements are being seen on the pitch and not being spoken about in hindsight.
