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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Peter Davidson

SFA blasted for VAR silence as ex ref accuses Hampden chiefs of treating fans with contempt over 'inexplicable decisions'

A former top flight referee has accused the Scottish FA of treating the football public across the country with "contempt".

Steve Conroy has hit out at the governing body over the handling of VAR since it was introduced in the Scottish Premiership at the end of October last year. The use of the new technology has not stop controversy reigning across the sport since it went live. VAR controversy from the weekend continues to rumble on despite Scotland welcoming Cyprus and Spain to Hampden respectively over the course of the next week.

Premiership bottom side Dundee United has called for a summit on VAR following their game against St Mirren on Saturday at Tannadice. Boss Jim Goodwin raged at Curtis Main for what he described as a dive, while Hibs CEO Ben Kensell confronted SFA chiefs at Parkhead about the level of refereeing against Celtic. The BBC reported on Tuesday the SFA were looking to bring in VAR specialists in order to fix the problem.

Speaking to BonusCodeBets Conroy urged the SFA to admit when decisions were wrong. He added: "It’s been the most explosive, controversial and worrying weekend of VAR we have seen this season. There were major decisions in virtually every game – some bad and some inexplicable.

"We are now four months or so into this and it’s not getting any better. There is nothing wrong with the technology – it has been the interpretation of it. Referees can make mistakes, but VAR is supposed to be there to rectify them. That didn’t happen. There were shocking mistakes in Dundee United’s game with St Mirren and Kilmarnock’s match with St Johnstone that could have significant bearing on their survival.

"Every time something like this happens there is deafening silence from the SFA. They are treating the Scottish football public with contempt. Why not come out and say ‘we’ve had a howler and we’re going to try to get it right’? They have to say something."

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