gersnet article (image) Old Firm media embarrassment and VAR control

[Frankie 8,562]

 

[Frankie 8,562]

It's an excellent read from @Rick Roberts and best viewed on our main site due to links contained within it:

 

https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/current-affairs/987-old-firm-media-embarrassment-and-var-control

[buster. 5,195]

Excellent article by Rick Roberts 

 

Calm, reasoned and as objective as you will get anywhere,............ unlike the subject he talks about.

[Rick Roberts 246]

Thanks Buster. 

 

As with a lot of these east-end hysterics the story, opinions and timelines get washed away. If anyone goes back to find out about it they only really have the BBC or daily record articles to go on, which are less than half the story. Unfortunately in months or years people wont remember the truth, only Tom English's version of it. 

[stewarty 2,025]

In the interests of balance, in terms of the building narrative around the quality of refereeing; we should also highlight our own club's stance in calling out Collum's poor performance, as well as the suggestion after the first game of the season from Gerrard about decisions going against us.  Levein, Lennon, McInnes et al, have all made their own comments.

 

That said, my own take here is that the primary issue that enables all of these spats to build, and for pressure to continue to build on referees, is the fundamental flaws in the SFA's compliance process.  Rather than build confidence in the application of the laws of the game, it fundamentally undermines them.  As @Rick Roberts points out, unless every game is reviewed for potential compliance incidents in full and without favour to any media agenda, then there will always be decisions that go unpunished which will aggrieve one or both sides.

 

But where do we go from here?  Is the answer VAR so that the referee can check individual decisions during the games so that there is minimal need for the overlapping compliance officer review? Possibly, but are all clubs and the SFA willing to pay for it when there is little hard cash around?  And what then happens when interpretations of VAR incidents also generate their own contentious levels of debate?

 

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by stewarty

[govan_derriere 3]

An excellent, well balanced article.

[Rick Roberts 246]

16 minutes ago, stewarty said:

In the interests of balance, in terms of the building narrative around the quality of refereeing; we should also highlight our own club's stance in calling out Collum's poor performance, as well as the suggestion after the first game of the season from Gerrard about decisions going against us.  Levein, Lennon, McInnes et al, have all made their own comments.

 

That said, my own take here is that the primary issue that enables all of these spats to build, and for pressure to continue to build on referees, is the fundamental flaws in the SFA's compliance process.  Rather than build confidence in the application of the laws of the game, it fundamentally undermines them.  As @Rick Roberts points out, unless every game is reviewed for potential compliance incidents in full and without favour to any media agenda, then there will always be decisions that go unpunished which will aggrieve one or both sides.

 

But where do we go from here?  Is the answer VAR so that the referee can check individual decisions during the games so that there is minimal need for the overlapping compliance officer review? Possibly, but are all clubs and the SFA willing to pay for it when there is little hard cash around?  And what then happens when interpretations of VAR incidents also generate their own contentious levels of debate?

 

 

I think you're right on referencing Gerrards criticisms. The article was growing by that stage so i never covered it.

 

Likewise, i considered adding in equivalents (or dismissing what Spiers considers to be equivalents) but decided that would be a whole article by itself. 

 

Rocksport discussed Refs last night and they mentioned fans and responsibilities, they mentioned players and managers reactions. But they totally missed he medias behaviour and responsibilities. Which is the main factor in everything. They decide what will be news or sensational more than the actual incidents. I predict they'll trumpet in celtic as the saviours of Scottish football when they opt to chip in for VAR. I also predict they'll slaughter VAR when we beat them next. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by Rick Roberts

[buster. 5,195]

I briefly thought about A.I. eventually being able to make decisions and solve the potential for mistakes/bias at whatever level,.... referee, C.O., compliance process, VAR........... but then whoever programmed the A.I. would be sought out and grilled 

 

As Rick highlights, the main problem in the here and now is the increased and generally unbalanced media coverage.....and of course where this can lead. The line in the song about 'no-one likes us....' has probably never been more apt.

 

Tabloids always look to cover and feed stories that will provide controversy, clickbait and revenue. In so doing, they sometimes and knowingly, act irresponsibly, eg. Sutton piece on SFA stitch-up. IMO, it's more about the commercial than consistent one-way bias.

 

BBC Scotland is another story (see 26th of Foot thread) and one that is becoming darker but more obviously an abuse of their charter. Perhaps they should get a prize on how to get away with it. Sometimes it's not even what they say but instead they use a photograph above a story to speak the thousand words (eg. see current story on Morelos/covered in another thread).

 

It wasn't just the financial where we have lost considerable ground in recent years.

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by buster.

[pete 2,499]

Absolutely fantastic peice Rick. I sometimes struggle to read right through some long pieces but this kept my interest from start to finish.

 

One spelling mistake:

On social media most of the press pack praised Rangers performance, endorsed the result and rated Benton's performance as good (which in Scottish refereeing terms is stratospheric). Newspapers, tabloids included, said similar, at least initially. One good example is that Graham Spiers tweeted Beaton was 'terrific'.

[Rick Roberts 246]

12 minutes ago, pete said:

Absolutely fantastic peice Rick. I sometimes struggle to read right through some long pieces but this kept my interest from start to finish.

 

One spelling mistake:

On social media most of the press pack praised Rangers performance, endorsed the result and rated Benton's performance as good (which in Scottish refereeing terms is stratospheric). Newspapers, tabloids included, said similar, at least initially. One good example is that Graham Spiers tweeted Beaton was 'terrific'.

Thanks Pete.

 

Tomorrows Daily Record "Death threats for Benton as well now" :-)