Dallas Does "Dougie, Dougie"
Fir Park was, for the second time this season, the venue for highly unusual officiating impacting the top of the Scottish Premier League (SPFL) table.
Dickinson’s “Dougie, Dougie” Moment
In November, Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) lead David Dickinson advised referee Willie Collum that Jota was offside when scoring a goal for Celtic that would have put the Champions into a commanding 2-0 lead. What transpired was that the VAR technology partially failed meaning the image from the nearest camera to the incident did not work.
Faced with this technology fault, Dickinson had a range of options both practical and by the SFA guidelines. He chose neither path and instead gave Jota offside despite the lack of definitive evidence he was, and therefore in direct contravention of the SFA guidelines he is supposed to work under.
The SFA then compounded this strange behaviour by misleading the public as to how the technology worked whilst confirming it was Dickinson who had made the call despite the technical failings.
I covered this comprehensively here.
Jeopardy Immunity
Since that time, clubs across the SPFL have at various times bemoaned how VAR has been implemented and suffered at the hands of the part time officials.
Except one.
It is remarkable that since VAR was rushed into the Scottish game, one club has proven immune from the misfortunes and incompetence of the beleaguered Scottish refs.
That club, playing out of Ibrox, has benefitted from at least seven big calls that the Yorkshire Whistler has deemed incorrect. None have been given against, that have been materially impactful.
At the same time, rivals for the title, Celtic, have been on the wrong end of at least five and benefitted from none.
What is remarkable is that at the time all clubs in the SPFL have their horror stories of poor officiating and VAR implementation, one remains seemingly immune from the vagaries introduced by allowing part time officials to rule over a full-time game.
You’d think the coin of fortune would land tails at some point?
This fact has even been acknowledged by The Rangers rookie manager Micky Beale. In an article in The Herald on 25th February 2023 he chimed:
“I have to say since I have come back into the league I have been pleased with the officiating and maybe that is because there has been no real drama come my way yet.”
Guileless young Micky is endlessly entertaining and his refreshing candour is to be admired in this instance.
The Rangers seem immune from officiating jeopardy and Micky knows it.
Dallas’s “Dougie, Dougie” Moment?
And so to Fir Park, Motherwell once again.
In the 62nd minute of a match poised at 2-2, where any further slippage from the Light Blues would likely end once and for all this season’s pursuit of the title and a Champions League bounty, Fashion Sakala broke down the left wing and from his cross the resulting play ended with Todd Cantwell scoring for the away team.
The normal VAR checks were done – Sakala had looked very close to offside, and eventually Andrew Dallas the VAR lead indicated to referee Nick Walsh that the goal could be awarded.
However, when the image was released that had been through the VAR process, there was consternation to say the least.
On the Sunday following the game, 19th March, The Scotsman published an article quoting ex referee Steve Conroy and it is worth your time to read.
Conroy opined:
“It seems to me that VAR have got this one wrong. I think Sakala is in an offside position," Conroy told Grosvenor Sport.
“Arms and hands don’t count when it comes to an offside decision but it looks like VAR have decided that the Motherwell defender’s arm plays Sakala ONSIDE with this mythical situation where your arm becomes your body at the T-shirt line or armpit.
“So, they are saying that the defender’s shoulder is ahead of Sakala’s foot but it doesn’t look like that to me. It’s a game-changing moment.
“It’s the second big call that’s gone wrong at Fir Park after a Jota goal for Celtic was disallowed when the cameras were not focused on the incident.”
It is highly unusual for any mainstream Scottish outlet to have a piece questioning the veracity of a decision in favour of The Rangers so this is noteworthy. Predictably, in an age when outlets copy and paste from each other, this quite sensational piece was ignored by other organs.
Conroy’s concerns can be summarised as twofold:
Earlier in the piece, it is raised that the lines drawn (by a human VAR – i.e. Andrew Dallas) did not seem straight indicating some kind of operational error; and
That there had been an incorrect interpretation of the law as to what part of the Motherwell defender’s body should have been the reference point for the decision.
As always with game-changing contentious decision, I asked the Yorkshire Whistler.
The detail is here.
On this particular incident, here is the Yorkshire Whistler’s verdict in full:
“The ball is played down the channel for the Rangers player, Sakala to run on to. He squares it and the ball ultimately ends up in the back of the net.
This appears to be a very close decision that goes in Rangers favour, as VAR adjudge the Rangers player to be level.
However, upon closer scrutiny, I am not convinced this was the correct outcome. When the image is paused at the point of contact made by the original pass, my gut feeling is that Sakala has just crept offside. What makes this a difficult decision to call is that the pitch markings do not appear to run parallel with 18-yard line. Interesting the separate still freeze frame image provided to me that VAR produced to make the onside call, also has questions to answer around where the lines have been drawn.
I understand there is some controversy around this particular image already and having analysed the footage I am inclined to feel this image does not feel quite right.
Law 17 states that the HANDS & ARMS of ALL players are not considered when determining offside (on the basis you cannot legally score with these parts of the body).
For the purposes of determining offside, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit.
However, the line drawn by VAR appears to line up with the end of the slightly extended arm of the Motherwell defender when making the onside call. If Law 17 is applied correctly, then line should have been marginally further back parallel with the defender’s ‘armpit’ area – in which case I would then suspect the VAR decision would have been to rule marginally as Offside.
Verdict: INCORRECT DECISION. Unusual scenario, but I feel Var actually got this wrong and that the goal should have been disallowed for a tight offside decision.”
The image showing the lines Dallas drew “does not feel quite right”.
And, he concurs with Conroy, that Dallas does not appear to know, or understand, Law 11 regarding the part of the defenders body to reference against when deciding on offsides.
Remember: the VAR technology provides an image and the ability to look at replays from different angles. The “Hawkeye” components places objects in space. But it is the human VAR official that is tasked with a) drawing the relevant lines onto the image and b) making a decision and relaying that to the on field referee.
Dallas either deliberately or accidently drew the lines incorrectly and then either forgot/misremembered or ignored Law 11.
These mishaps once again align to favour one club. At 2-2 in the 62nd minute away from home. With Champions League money on the line.
Oh, and at 4-2 to The Rangers, the win was sealed when midfielder Callum Slattery was dismissed for a challenge on Todd Cantwell. Again, the Yorkshire Whistler was dismissive of this decision in his very understated and measured way.
Two game changing decisions favouring one team in the same game, and both adjudged incorrect by a neutral expert with no skin in the Scottish game.
Summary
As I often say, debate around individual decisions is largely fruitless when taken in isolation and will predictable fracture along partisan lines. All football fans are biased and yet are largely ignorant as regards the Laws of the Game.
As a data nerd I look for patterns which takes time and a reasonable sample size. That is being built with the Yorkshire Whistlers help
However, what we have seen this season are two highly unusual occurrences in SPFL games at Fir Park that put doubt in the mind of a reasonable person as to both the competence and partiality of the officiating.
There was a third highly unusual occurrence in a League Cup Semi-Final between Aberdeen and The Rangers in January 2023. Apparently, the VAR technology shut down for a period that coincided with Ryan Kent smashing Liam Scales in the head. In the 88th minute with the game level the red card that should have resulted for The Rangers winger but did not materialise. A further red card to Borna Barisic in the extra time period for a foul on Matt Kennedy also did not materialise. Aberdeen lost the tie.
The common theme through these highly unusual incidents is the answer to the question qui bono?
And the answer to that question appears always to be the same.