Former Scottish referee Bobby Madden has offered an explanation for the controversial VAR decision which ruled out Camilo Duran’s goal against St Mirren.
There has been plenty of debate over the decision, with images circulating online appearing to show the Celtic striker onside.
Madden, who has experience of refereeing in both Scotland and England, believes much of the confusion has come from supporters being shown the wrong kick point in some of the images doing the rounds.
Speaking on his So Near Yet So VAR podcast, the former referee explained that the broadcaster may have supplied an image from the wrong moment.
“I think the broadcaster has maybe provided the wrong kick point,” Madden said.
“So people then take that as gospel, ‘oh there’s the kick point’, and then you see the image from the kick point.
“They’ve identified the wrong kick point which has shown the Celtic player not in an offside situation, then VAR have checked it and they’ve presented the correct image.
“People are complaining about the VAR output that you can’t see the ball, but it’s important to identify that the VAR will identify the kick point from multiple camera angles.
“Once they identify the kick point then they can move round the camera angles and judge the on and offside lines.”
Madden’s explanation should hopefully provide some clarity over why the images circulating online appear to contradict the VAR decision.
The key point is the exact moment the ball is played, with VAR able to use multiple camera angles to establish the correct kick point before applying the offside lines.
That means the image which has been widely shared showing Duran apparently onside may simply have been taken from the wrong frame.
It does not necessarily mean the VAR decision itself was incorrect.
The SFA’s Scottish Football VAR Review show is also due to discuss major incidents from the opening weeks of the season, meaning Celtic supporters could yet get further clarification on the decision. It’s set to air on Sky Sports Football on Friday evening, and Willie Collum will no doubt clear the decision up officially.
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2 responses
the second so called offside I didnt think it was right to leave it to the ref he gave celtic nothing 50 50 challenges ST Mirren got the calls poor refereeing stopped play when Celtic where racing up the pitch in a breakaway from corner he new Celtic in a great position giving free kicks out side Celtic box knowing that was only ST Mirren best chance of scoring apart from penalty which they got that was checked by var suprise went with on field decision not like offside not surprisingly going against Celtic
Wether the two goals were offside or not. Should these goals have stood it is a sport someones shoulder or big toe slightly infront of a defender shouldn’t define the entertainment or the athleticism of one player scoring a goal. If the whole body is infront of the defender then fine but this is undermining the fairness of VAR and refs