GUESSING GAME
Crucial moment VAR ‘guessed’ during Premiership match – as another side blast system as ‘unsuitable for purpose’
It was a remarkable incident - although it is covered in the rules
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ABERDEEN have branded Scottish football’s version of VAR as “unsuitable for purpose”.
Dons chiefs claim the SFA admitted officials “effectively guessed” that Angus MacDonald was offside when Bojan Miovski’s goal was ruled out in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Livingston.
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It has emerged that the Hawkeye system failed at the Tony Macaroni - meaning calibrated lines were unavailable.
VAR officials Matthew MacDermid and Jonathan Bell used a still image to make the call instead - which the SFA now admit was inconclusive.
But SunSport understands the SFA were able to review the incident after the game and TWO Aberdeen players were offside.
Ref Graham Grainger had awarded the Miovski goal and Aberdeen claim it was incorrectly ruled out - as they joined Motherwell in demanding VAR change.
The statement said: “What this situation demonstrates, in our opinion, is that the version of VAR that Scottish football has, or more accurately, can afford, is not suitable for the purpose in which it is intended.
“It perfectly highlights the limitations in the technology, the inappropriate implementation, the consistency of decision-making, and the negative impact on the overall experience for the match-going supporter.
“This is, of course, not an issue that we believe is in any way exclusive to Aberdeen.
“We are not being partisan because we believe a decision, or at least a process, has not been at all effective at the weekend.
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“We acknowledge there have been occasions where we ourselves have been fortunate to have benefitted from some of the observations and limitations raised.
“The Scottish FA, with the help of the SPFL (via the Competitions Working Group), have an on-going review of the use of Video Assistant Referees within Scottish football.
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“Aberdeen FC is committed to playing an active role in those discussions and will work with all stakeholders to try and improve the output because, at the moment, we do not believe VARs presence is enhancing the game in this country.”
The SFA gave Aberdeen audio and transcripts of the officials’ conversations when Miovski’s goal was disallowed.
And the Dons also provided fans with a detailed account of what happened.
The statement said: “The Hawkeye system failed in the lead up to the goal. so the VARs were unable to rely on any reliable calibrated lines to determine, with the normal degree of certainty, whether Angus MacDonald was offside or otherwise.
“The Scottish FA have confirmed to us that they have already launched an investigation into why this failure happened and put their officials into a difficult position.
“The VARs then used a freeze frame to determine whether they thought Angus MacDonald was in an offside position when the free kick was taken by Leighton Clarkson.
“The ability for the VARs to do this is contained within the VAR protocols.
“The Scottish FA accepted there is no conceivable way the VAR could tell definitively the deepest position of Livingston midfielder Daniel MacKay’s body, because from the only angle available – the 18-yard box camera on the main stand side – the lower half of MacKay’s body is completely obscured from view, blocked by other players.
“Even if his full body was visible, it’s impossible to determine who was closest to the goal line with no on-pitch ‘markers’.
“Therefore, it was acknowledged by all in attendance at the meeting that the VARs had to effectively guess on what that position might have been based on the limited information available to them.
“That was the basis on which to overrule the on-field call of the assistant referee, who did not raise his flag.
“It is our strong belief that in such an instance, and for the integrity of the game, the match officials should stick with their original on-field decision without the strength of evidence to overturn that and essentially re-referee the passage of play.
“This course of action was chosen ahead of asking the referee, himself, to look at the freeze frame and make a determination, which is permitted under the protocols when it’s a matter of opinion rather than factual.
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“Or more appropriately, in absence of a definitive outcome from the camera, sticking with the on-field decision, and giving the benefit of the doubt.”
The SFA said in a statement: "The Scottish FA has today received a report from Hawkeye on the incident that occurred at Livingston’s match against Aberdeen, which confirmed that the Broadcast 18-Yard Left Camera suffered a loss of calibration and ceased line tracking on the relevant video frame.
"During the review, Hawkeye were able to reprocess the data through their system and draw the calibrated offside lines from the disallowed goal, which showed Angus MacDonald to be in an offside position.
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"The VAR made the decision using the technology that was available and this decision was validated by Hawkeye's retrospective recalibration conducted as part of their review."
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