After years of speculation and rumours, the 42 SPFL clubs have voted to introduce Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) to the Scottish game, and the reception has been mixed, to say the least.
Whilst the likes of Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Dundee United boss Tam Courts have publicly backed the gradual introduction of VAR by the end of 2022, SPL fans are not sold on the idea, and who can blame them.
As seen in the Premier League, VAR has been used poorly in most circumstances and has failed to be used correctly, with referees still missing blatant red cards and penalties as well as officials doing the best they can to scrub off goals for attackers being a pixel offside.
Indeed, given the quality of officiating in Scotland, a similar fate could befall the SPL, yet there are reasons to be hopeful, and here are three reasons why this radical new move could be beneficial for the entire league.
VAR is improving every season
The first and biggest positive for VAR is that the technology and decision making is improving year after year, with FIFA even introducing plans for semi-automated offsides as reported by ESPN.
The new feature would essentially eliminate the countless minutes of human decision-making used to decide if a close offside call is on or not, and in Scotland and the rest of the footballing world, this simple change would make VAR an infinitely more free-flowing system.
Indeed, with the quality of Scottish football on the rise, the improvements to VAR and its overall introduction to the SPL has come at the right time, and it wouldn’t be too unrealistic a suggestion to say that the system could be better than how it is used in the Premier League.
Smaller clubs will benefit greatly
Like many divisions around Europe where the leagues are dominated by one or two major clubs, there seems to be some sort of favouritism towards these sides when it comes to contentious decisions, such as penalties and red cards.
And whilst Celtic and Rangers will unlikely suffer much with the introduction of VAR, it will be clubs at the other end of the SPL table that will benefit greatly from the technology, especially when the season splits into the Championship and Relegation phases.
Countless decisions this season alone have gone unpunished, and with VAR now set to be implemented this year, small sides in the SPL could see their fortunes turn around with the technology now in their power.
The standard of SPL refereeing will improve alongside VAR
As mentioned before, the standard of refereeing is and has been fairly low in Scotland, much like the United Kingdom as a whole with the quality in the Premier League and EFL just as poor.
Yet with VAR, pundits and experts have suggested that the technology is slowly improving the quality of officiating in some parts of Europe, and in time, the same could happen in Scotland, which could be a major result for football in the country.
After all, the SPL is an entertaining decision that supporters want to see officiated correctly, and with VAR now on its way, Scottish football fans could finally see this happen in the coming years if referees adapt and learn from the technology they now have at their fingertips.
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