Scottish FA introduce new review panel for major refereeing decisions

The Scottish FA is to publish a weekly review of major refereeing decisions from Premiership and high-profile cup matches as a further step towards improved transparency and efficiency.

The governing body has introduced a Key Match Incident Review Panel, where a five-person panel will look at key incidents from top flight games and give their verdict on whether the on-field refereeing decision and any VAR involvement are correct.

The panel’s decisions will be made public on a weekly basis and follow the launch of the Scottish FA’s weekly VAR Review show on YouTube.

The new system replaces the Independent Review Panel that has been in place for the last year, where a group met every two to three months to look at decisions from the previous 11 rounds of league competition.

Each panel will be made up of five members. Three independent panelists will have “established careers within Scottish football”, whether as coaches, former players or members of the media. There will be one representative from SPFL clubs and another representative from the Scottish FA.

Each member will have one vote on a key incident, with the verdict on whether officials got it right or wrong coming by majority decision.

The call on which incidents to review each week will come from the Scottish FA and the clubs.

The panel will also award a rating for the difficulty level of the decision in question, based on a scoring method that marks an incident from 1-5:

A simple decision that all officials should get correct.
A fairly simple decision for a Select official, but with more factors to consider.
A more complex decision with a greater degree of subjectivity and/or more factors to consider, that a Select official should nonetheless call correctly.
A difficult decision for officials with a high degree of subjectivity or challenging considerations to identify. One that needs deliberation. A 50/50 call.
A particularly tough decision that all match officials would struggle with. The type of judgement where technology is needed to support officials.

The first panel has already met to review decisions from last weekend’s Premiership action, with the verdicts already made public.

A total of 32 key incidents were looked at, and the panel concluded that the correct decision had been reached in 31 cases.

The only decision where the panel found that both the on-field refereeing team and the VAR had got it wrong came at St Mirren Park where the hosts drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock.

A flashpoint where St Mirren’s Shaun Rooney appeared to kick at Kilmarnock’s Kyle Vassell while the striker was on the ground shielding the ball was not punished by referee Matthew MacDermid, and VAR did not call the official to the monitor to review the incident.

The panel was unanimous in their opinion that the incident, rated as a difficulty level of 3 and “that a Select official should call correctly” should have been dealt with by MacDermid and, failing that, by VAR. They ruled that Rooney should have been dismissed for violent conduct.

Of the other incidents reviewed, they found seven occasions where the on-field referee made an incorrect call but VAR intervention led to the correct outcome, and 24 occasions where the on-pitch referee made the right call and was vindicated by a VAR review.

Prior to VAR being introduced to Scottish football, offences missed by the referees during matches were routinely reviewed by the Scottish FA’s compliance officer, with Notices of Complaint issued to players.

That process and the rules supporting it remain in place but are only likely to be used in more severe cases.

On those occasions, the compliance officer will convene an independent disciplinary hearing to determine if rules have been broken.