Rangers, Dundee United and Kilmarnock affected by wrong VAR decisions, says panel

An independent review panel has found that Video Assistant Referees were involved in four major refereeing mistakes that affected Premiership games last weekend.

The incidents happened across three top-flight matches, with each having a major effect on the outcome.

The Scottish FA convenes an independent panel to give an outside opinion on their use of technology and officials in their attempts to improve decision-making. The three panellists are drawn from a range of roles across the game and are not usually former officials but they give a verdict on whether the correct call was made on major incidents.

Of the four decisions they saw as being incorrect last weekend, two took place in Rangers’ home clash with Hearts and both went against the home side.

Lawrence Shankland gave Hearts the lead in their 2-0 win but the panel was unanimous in saying the goal shuold not have stood beceause of an earlier handball.

The second flashpoint came when Rangers were looking to equalise and Derek Cornelius put the ball in the net, only for the strike to be ruled out for a foul on Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow. The panel was divided on that decision but voted 2-1 that an error had been made that cost the hosts.

Rangers’ 2-0 loss heaped pressure on under-fire head coach Russell Martin, who said after the final whistle that he believed his side had been let down by the decisions.

Another major decision came in Hibernian’s 3-3 draw with Dundee United at Easter Road. With United leading, Vicko Sevelj was sent off after a VAR intervention for handball that handed Hibs a late penalty, which Jamie McGrath scored to equalise.

The panel believed the on-field decision was correct and VAR was wrong to intervene, and that the referee was wrong to change his mind and give the spot kick.

United successfully appealed Sevelj’s red card earlier this week, with a separate panel agreeing it was the wrong decision.

The final decision the Key Match Incident panel believed was a mistake came at Rugby Park, where Celtic were awarded a last minute penalty for handball, which Kelechi Iheanacho netted to give Celtic a 2-1 win.

The Rugby Park side looked as though they had done enough to earn a point against the champions until the ball deflected off Lewis Mayo’s arm in injury-time.

The referee was called over to the monitor to review the incident before pointing to the spot, and Iheanacho settled the game on his debut.

The independent panel believed the referee was correct not to give the penalty initially, that VAR should not have intervened and that the referee should not have changed his mind after going to the monitor.

Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell said he had been under the impression that handball after a deflection would not result in a spot kick this season, and that he now expects consistency from referees over similar incidents.

Guidance given to clubs at the beginning of the season is understood to have included time spent on handball and what wouldn’t be considered a penalty, with a penalty awarded against Dundee in their match against Ross County last season an example of what would no longer be punished.

However, every incident has different factors to weigh on the decision and deflection does not always negate the risk of conceding a penalty. Officials also take into consideration if the player is facing the ball, and if it is travelling towards goal.

The Laws of the Game state that it is a handball offence if a player:

touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised
deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example, moving the hand/arm towards the ball