Leighton Clarkson’s goal at Fir Park gave the Dons a 1-0 victory, but the Steelmen were incensed at two major calls that went against them—a goal that was disallowed and a penalty shout.
Stuart Kettlewell was enraged by the event and acknowledged he was ‘bore up’ with inconsistent handball judgements; the club even went so far as to describe the IFAB law on the sport in their statement.
In an effort to support supporters who have been disenchanted with VAR’s interventions and how they have affected spectators at games, Motherwell has now voiced their concerns in a film that has been uploaded to Hampden.
They claim that the ‘Well faithful’ have only had negative feedback and are looking for answers for the numerous worries they have had all season.
Motherwell statement in full
The club has written to the SFA and sent a video package in response to the circumstances of our Saturday match against Aberdeen, requesting an explanation of the regulation surrounding handball incidents that occur in the play leading up to a goal being scored.
“Eamonn Brophy scored the first goal in a game at Fir Park on October 28, 2023, against Motherwell. Victor Loturi handled the ball in the build-up to the goal before passing it to Brophy, who scored. The Fourth Official advised us after the game that the goal stood since Loturi did not score it and the handball was not intentional.
We thought Lennon Miller’s goal in our match against Aberdeen on Saturday would have tied the game. Referee Willie Collum made the on-field decision to award the goal, but Steven McLean’s extensive VAR check led to an advice for the referee to go to the VAR monitor.
“Theo Bair’s handball in the build-up resulted in the on-field decision being overturned after the goal was reviewed. We were informed that this was a purposeful handball since Theo’s hand was high and outstretched, and as a result, the goal was disqualified.
In contrast, the handball in the Ross County game was ruled to be non-penalties since the ball bounced off the player’s arm. This is true even when the handball occurs when the player’s hand is raised high above their head, altering the path the ball takes.
Although we acknowledge that all decisions, especially those pertaining to handball, are subjective, we find it hard to believe that Theo’s handball was intentional given that the ball barely touched his shoulder as he tried to head it. When the goal was scored, it also had no bearing on what happened next in the game.
At a large cost to each club, we also don’t think this occurrence fulfils the “clear and obvious” error level that all clubs agreed to when VAR was established.
The decision not to award a penalty kick when the ball appeared to strike Graeme Shinnie’s arm in the penalty area towards the end of the game further disappointed us. We were told that even though the defender had his arm extended, the ball could not be considered deliberate because it had bounced off another player before it hit the target.
We are fully aware that there will never be a unanimous agreement and that decisions made during games will always be subject to interpretation. However, we are concerned about the fact that various people are interpreting the rules in different ways—even within the same game—that decision-making is highly inconsistent, and that it seems like the threshold for VAR intervention is shifting. Another problem is that nobody in the stadium knows why the goal was disqualified.
We have participated in the ongoing comprehensive assessment of VAR, as we are aware from the latest SFA release and our conversations with SPFL officials. Some of these decisions could have a lot of different outcomes, but our main concern is that the inconsistent decision-making, frequent, protracted VAR interventions during most games, and lack of transparency regarding the reasoning behind the decisions are seriously affecting the fans’ enjoyment of the game.
Our own fans have virtually exclusively bad things to say about VAR, and we think the majority of them would vote to stop using it if they could. It’s actually difficult to find a football fan or participant that is content with the situation as it stands right now.
We eagerly await the review’s results and the details of how the necessary enhancements will be put into practice.
