The Celtic penalty against Kilmarnock talk still rages on as two former referees have their say on the incident at Rugby Park.
The talk comes to the fore once again after Willie Collum’s comments about the decision to award Celtic a penalty on The VAR Review show this week.
The Head of Referees said that despite the intervention of VAR awarding the spot kick, John Beaton was correct to award Celtic the controversial penalty after Kilmarnock’s Lewis Mayo handled a deflected shot by James Forrest.
The decision incensed Killie boss Stuart Kettlewell as Celtic went on to win the game and it appears that the call has also angered former SFA referees Des Roache and Stuart Conroy.
Kelechi Iheanacho stands and prepares to take Celtic’s penalty vs Kilmarnock.
The penalty award has certainly caused some debate. Former FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg called the Celtic decision ‘harsh’ but Roache goes one step further.
Roache told The Ref’s View, “I’m really sort of perplexed. The first thing that he said was it is really debatable. Okay, I can understand that. Yes, it certainly is debatable.
“He says, in law, it is justifiable. It’s justifiable in law. There is no proximity worded in the laws of the game, which, yes, we agree with.
“However, the ball didn’t strike. It was a shot at goal, that was going off target that came off a fellow Kilmarnock player and then hit the other Kilmarnock player.
“What is he meant to do? Where is he meant to have himself? He can’t anticipate a shot’s coming at me. Okay, right, fine, but it hits my teammate, then hits me. I think that’s just ridiculous. And he’s talking about stakeholders saying, ‘No, we don’t expect that would be given’.
“Well, why support it, then? Why support and say, yes, that should be given? Now, it was John Beaton who was the ref and Matthew McDermid, who was the VAR.
“I’m really sorry. I would never accept that as a penalty. And I don’t think any team in the country and in the world would accept that as a penalty.”
Steve Conroy launches stinging criticism of Collum over Celtic penalty
Steve Conroy’s view was that the decision to give Celtic the penalty was ‘shocking’ as he severely criticises Collum for his apparent contradictory comments.
Conroy continued, “He is a contradiction. A contradiction in himself to say that that is justifiable in law. What law justifies that?
“And then he went on to say that the defender’s arm was in an unnatural position. For what? The ball had nothing to do with him.
“There was a shot that wasn’t going near him. What’s he meant to do with his arms? He was not making himself unnatural. He wasn’t getting in the way. What’s he meant to do?
“As we keep saying, football is the most unpredictably fluid ball game in the world. So anything can happen.
“So going by what he has said there, that if that is a justifiable penalty kick, and I still cannot believe that they’re saying that that is a penalty kick.
“The only way that that defender can avoid giving away a penalty,and it goes for all these defensive colleagues, is that you run about with your hands in your pockets.
“There is no alternative. It’s a shocking decision.”
Over 30 days on and VAR is still causing talking points when it comes to decisions involving Celtic and Scottish football.
With Celtic back in action on Sunday, will VAR get involved and cause more controversy? It’s likely but fans will be hoping that the Bhoys can seal the win and regain top-spot in the league table.