The debate around Celtic’s late penalty against Motherwell has taken another turn following the release of the VAR audio, Sam Nicholson’s insistence that the ball never touched his hand, and Willie Collum’s defence of the decision.

Nicholson recently stated that he could “categorically” say there was no handball, despite the decision helping Celtic secure a dramatic win at Fir Park during the closing stages of the title race.

The release of the audio showed referee John Beaton, VAR Andrew Dallas and assistant VAR Sean Carr all agreeing that the ball had struck Nicholson’s arm before Beaton overturned his original decision and awarded a penalty.

Now, Scottish FA Head of Refereeing Willie Collum has publicly backed the officials involved and explained why the governing body still supports the decision.

Collum addressed the incident during Sky Sports’ latest VAR Review programme alongside Gordon Duncan.

He said: “For us there’s clear evidence, particularly the still image. In our opinion this is clear.

“When you strip it back, 95th minute of the match, VAR goes through a clear process. They’re clear it’s a handball.

“When the referee comes over, he agrees. So we fully support the decision.

“The key for me is Nicholson’s hand and arm are already in an unnatural position. It moves further into an unnatural position. The player takes a huge risk when he jumps with his hand in that position.

“It’s not a foul on the Motherwell player. We’ve been consistent with handballs. Falkirk against Hibs, Connor Barron against Falkirk. We believe we’ve been consistent in our approach.

“We felt he wasn’t trying to get his arm out of the position. We didn’t feel he was trying to protect his face, it wasn’t a shot coming at him from a close distance.

“We need to be careful talking about an advantage being gained. It wasn’t a case of trying to avoid contact, or trying to protect his face. Another small point.

“People say ‘support the on-field decision?’ There wasn’t an on-field decision, it was completely missed. We had a decision at the end of an Old Firm where no-one appealed for a handball but it was checked. We have to be thorough.

“When you bring a ref to the monitor, you’ve already come to the conclusion that it’s hit the hand.

“The ref’s focus has to be to check the position of the arm. He just quickly confirms ‘has it hit the arm?’ You wouldn’t bring him over if it hadn’t.

“There’s three key people here. The VAR, the AVAR and the referee. They see this as a clear error and a punishable handball. It’s crucial they identify that.”

Collum’s comments are particularly interesting because they directly address several of the arguments that have followed the incident. Nicholson’s view remains that the ball never touched his hand, but the officials involved in the review all believed contact had occurred.


The audio released this week supports that. Dallas can be heard stating that the ball “definitely” hit the hand, Carr agrees with the assessment, and Beaton reaches the same conclusion after reviewing the footage on the monitor.

While the debate is unlikely to disappear completely, the Scottish FA’s position is now unmistakably clear. Despite the later KMI panel vote, Collum has publicly backed the decision-making process, the VAR intervention and the eventual penalty award.