Refereeing Inconsistencies

[Kmcalpin]

Some interesting comments from Lee Wilkie in today's Dundee Courier. 

"I would scrap VAR in Scottish football tomorrow.

The technology affects the game far too much in a negative way and we saw the very worst of that in Dundee’s seemingly endless game at Kilmarnock.

Of course, we want to help referees get really close calls correct but the technology gets involved far too much.

And it affects the way players play the game, too. Again, not in a good way.

I think players dive even more now than they did before.

I’m not talking about blatant dives where there is no contact. I’m talking about situations where the forward feels a hand on the back and hits the deck.

They do that knowing the Video Assistant Referee is watching and they might get a penalty out of very little.

For me, that’s not what football should be about.

It is a technical game but there should still be the physical aspect of battling for the ball with someone else.

When VAR reviews a decision, they only look for contact but crucially not whether that contact is enough to constitute a foul.

You will see strikers running into the box thinking more about initiating contact with a defender than actually scoring the chance.

VAR in Scotland has not had many successes to shout about and Saturday at Rugby Park certainly wasn’t one of them.

An eight-minute delay doesn’t help anyone. Spectators don’t want to be hanging about that long and, even though Dundee eventually got the penalty, it didn’t help them either.

It doesn’t look good for our game. The SPFL and SFA are probably breathing a sigh of relief that didn’t happen in one of the title-deciding fixtures coming up."

[bobbybingo]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

"The SPFL and SFA are probably breathing a sigh of relief that didn’t happen in one of the title-deciding fixtures coming up."

But we all know it will. Hearts fans were delighted to take Saturday's decision, but you can almost guarantee they'll be greetin about VAR before the season's over. Three sides going for the title - it's an accident waiting to happen.

[Stuwell2]

Aye the phrase tainted title will be bandied about by supporters of the two losers no doubt. 

[Spiderpig]

5 hours ago, bobbybingo said:

But we all know it will. Hearts fans were delighted to take Saturday's decision, but you can almost guarantee they'll be greetin about VAR before the season's over. Three sides going for the title - it's an accident waiting to happen.

Hearts wont win the title, for me its MJC,'s big team, as they will get most of the Var calls in their favour as they always do.

[Happy Dosser]

On 4/13/2026 at 1:12 PM, dennyc said:

According to the match programme on Saturday the VAR Official was Steven McLean. The same VAR Official from the Aberdeen cup tie. The same referee who put in a shocking performance in the home game v Rangers a week before the cup tie and was loudly booed off at the end. Obviously just a coincidence as I'm sure he holds no grudges.

I didn't know that but I always had the feeling that he never forgave us for releasing his brother Brian, since the former's  "performances" against us almost always  seemed inconsistent at best or incompetent/biased at worst. 

It seems such behaviour is typical in the petty and largely unchallenged world of Scottish football refereeing.

Dae ye mind o' Craig Thomson? Dae ye?

[Spiderpig]

On 4/13/2026 at 1:12 PM, dennyc said:

According to the match programme on Saturday the VAR Official was Steven McLean. The same VAR Official from the Aberdeen cup tie. The same referee who put in a shocking performance in the home game v Rangers a week before the cup tie and was loudly booed off at the end. Obviously just a coincidence as I'm sure he holds no grudges.

He probably holds grudges a lot better than he does a whistle or VAR controls.