Scottish referees could be mic'd up next season to explain VAR decisions to fans

Daily Record

3 days ago

The move comes as SFA refs chiefs Willie Collum looks to improve transparency over decisions
There's arguably only one thing worse than when an engine catches fire on your passenger plane.
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And that's when the man in charge of the cockpit gets into such a blind panic over it that he forgets the fundamentals of how to fly the damn thing.
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Which is precisely why refs' boss Willie Collum has turned to a couple of professional pilots this week in order to help his own officials prepare for the new campaign - in the hope of avoiding any bumpy landings.
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The trick, says Collum, is to remain calm, composed and concise in any kind of crisis situation - and especially when communicating with the men at the control tower, or, in this case, those manning the VAR bunker at Clydesdale House.
And, after asking Scotland's top whistlers attend a crash course from the experts, Collum believes his men will be ready for just about anything when the new season gets up and running this weekend.
He said: "We've had aviation experts in, pilots. They're training pilots as well. They showed us examples of critical situations, life and death situations.
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"People think football is life and death, it's not quite the same, but it's an intense environment and we wanted to know how people communicate there.
"What we really liked about it was that it showed us that sometimes the VARs are speaking and they are not really asking the right open question.
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"They could be leading the assistant VAR but the pilot is not asking the co-pilot questions that he is just going to agree with.
"You actually see some examples where they physically sit back. We showed a clip from a match in Scotland where the VAR sits back and the AVAR gets in about the screen looking at it.
"There was lots about communication. Another key thing was that nobody in a cockpit uses the words, 'I think'. It needs to be concrete, it needs to be, 'Here's what it is actually showing, here's what the outcome is'. Rather than saying 'it's something that I'm thinking', we need it to be more factual."
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And calm. Always calm. Especially when one of the engines is belching out flames and smoke - a scenario which was played out in front of Collum and his officials.
He said: "We saw examples of that yesterday. Nobody can deny the pilot's adrenalin is pumping and they are fearing, they're frightened, they're worried.
"It's about keeping calm because you have got a process and you know to follow that process. We want the same. When there are critical, difficult decisions for the VAR to make they have a process there."
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This left-field training programme was originally piloted - sorry - with referees from England's top flight.
And Collum not only believes his colleagues down south have reaped the benefits but has also gone to the bother of pinching former Premier League whistler Martin Atkinson to head of Scotland's VAR team.
He said: "There were a couple of high-profile decisions, with a lot of debate about the communication after a Spurs game against Liverpool.
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"England were the first to say, 'We need to have a real serious think about what's being said in the room.
"It can't just be a run-of-the-mill conversation, we need the right phrases and processes'.
"What we are using through aviation is that you need robust processes. We definitely think that in England you can see evidence of that.
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"In the short time that Martin has been in position, we are already seeing better evidence of that.
"If you had gone into the VAR room before Martin and talked about communication, it'd have been really busy with people talking, saying too much.
"Now, if you go in you would think, 'Something is not working right here because I'm not hearing anything!'.
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"But it is about speaking when you need to speak so that it is relevant. We also know that talking, talking, talking can make people tired. We don't want our VARs and AVARs being tired.
"What was really interesting for us is they actually said that some of our clips would be good to train their pilots. They were able to see good examples.
"From a technical point of view they didn't know what the right or the wrong decision was but what they did say was, 'Could there have been less talk? A different approach? More open-ended question to AVAR?'
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"They see a lot of similarities between what is happening in the VAR room and the cockpit. Again it is not life and death, but in football, maybe even in the west of Scotland, it is up there."
With that in mind, Collum is also keen to roll out better communication with supporters inside Scotland's stadiums and believes a system to explain VAR decisions in-game will improve the match day experience.
All he needs now is the clubs to agree to pay for it.
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He said: "We are closer. We've had good discussions with the clubs. When the referee goes to the monitor and can make an announcement - you're enhancing transparency.
"We're also taking into cognisance about what clubs are saying and the in-stadium experience for fans. We want to support that as well.
"We don't think it would cost a fortune. We've already been doing a bit of work in the background looking at costing and whatever for that. We would welcome it. We think that's doable. With goalline technology, it's also doable, you can bring it in - but it would cost a substantial amount.
"If clubs gave us the green light for it financially, we would train the referees immediately. It's not as simple as people think, going to the monitor and making an announcement.
"You've got to get the wording right, about selling decisions, but we would move fast with that. If we get a green light for that, we would introduce it within a season even. "I don't mean within a season meaning next season - I mean we would be happy to introduce it in the current season."