Aberdeen have labelled VAR in Scottish football “not suitable for the purpose in which it is intended”, claiming the Scottish FA have admitted officials made a “guess” to rule out Bojan Miovski’s late winner at Livingston.
Miovski’s last-gasp 92nd-minute scissors-kick finish was chalked off after VAR official Matthew MacDermid informed on-field referee Graham Grainger Dons defender Angus MacDonald had been offside from a free-kick in the build-up.
However, many fans disputed the ruling the Reds defender was definitively offside, with no image featuring VAR lines produced in the aftermath of the match, before Aberdeen chiefs attended a meeting with the Scottish FA earlier this week.
On Wednesday, they released a statement saying it was “no longer tenable” to maintain the “relative public silence” they have kept over VAR grievances, having seen and heard transcripts which they claim revealed failings in how the MacDonald offside call was reached.
The Dons claim the Hawkeye system at the Tony Macaroni Stadium failed, meaning the VAR officials “were unable to rely on any reliable calibrated lines to determine, with the normal degree of certainty, whether Angus MacDonald was offside or otherwise,” with the SFA said to be investigating this failure.
Aberdeen say the officials instead used a freeze frame to judge whether MacDonald was onside, but the SFA had 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.”
The Reds added: “Even if his full body was visible, it’s impossible to determine who was closest to the goal line with no on-pitch ‘markers’.”
They continued: “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, and 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, 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.”
‘We do not believe VAR is enhancing the game’
Aberdeen said the incident exposes a multitude of failings with VAR, including: “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.”
Acknowledging Aberdeen are not “exclusive” in suffering the consequences of these issues, they said: “We do not believe VARs presence is enhancing the game in this country.”
The Dons added: “The Scottish FA, with the help of the SPFL (via the Competitions Working Group), have an ongoing review of the use of Video Assistant Referees within Scottish football.
“Aberdeen FC is committed to playing an active role in those discussions and will work with all stakeholders to try and improve the output”.
SFA: Retrospective Hawkeye check showed MacDonald was offside
Following the Dons statement, the SFA released their own statement, saying they have since asked Hawkeye to retrospectively look at the MacDonald offside, and they found the call itself was correct.
It read: “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.
“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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