Ahead of the upcoming match against Hearts, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers addressed last week’s SFA report which acknowledged two VAR-related errors in the teams’ previous encounter.
The report confirmed that a penalty awarded to Celtic was incorrectly given and that a review should have been initiated. Conversely, the penalty Celtic conceded was deemed correctly judged on the field, and VAR intervention advising otherwise was unnecessary. Additionally, the report upheld the decision regarding Yang’s sending off.
Following the contentious match, Rodgers had criticised the VAR official, John Beaton, labelling the officiating as “incompetent.” This led to an SFA charge and a subsequent two-game ban for Rodgers, with one of those suspended.
When asked about his reaction to the SFA’s confirmation of the officiating errors, Rodgers said on Celtic TV, “Listen, my feeling at the time was that they weren’t correct. It just confirms a few months later where we were at. It’s gone. We served our punishment and didn’t get the result and now we move on like we did back then.”
On whether the SFA’s acknowledgement of the mistakes is beneficial for the improvement of VAR in the league, Rodgers highlighted the importance of transparency and the willingness of the SFA to admit errors. He said, “I think transparency is important, for sure. It also shows courage for them as well to come out and disclose that. That level of transparency and reflection will always help the game. I always think resources will help the game and help support the referees with the best technology and education that there possibly can be. That will also help. I think for them to come out and do that you have to say well done to them but it doesn’t change anything from my perspective.”
