Aberdeen saw their hopes of a Scottish Premiership top-six finish disappear when Bojan Miovski’s goal was disallowed against Livingston for an offside against Angus MacDonald in the build-up
The Scottish FA insist Bojan Miovski’s stoppage-time winner was correctly ruled out at Livingston after Aberdeen claimed VAR is having a negative impact on the game.
The Dons argued their “relative public silence” on VAR issues was “no longer tenable” following talks with the SFA on the decision and hearing transcripts from the match officials.
In a lengthy statement released on Wednesday, the club said: “What this situation demonstrates, in our opinion, is that the version of VAR that Scottish football has, or more accurately, can afford, is not suitable for the purpose in which it is intended.”
The talks with the SFA revealed the video assistants were unable to calibrate the lines because of a camera failure, instead freezing the footage to determine by eye, as is allowed by the VAR protocols.
Video assistant Matthew MacDermid decided Angus MacDonald was offside in the build-up to Miovski’s goal.
The SFA have now produced retrospective footage to prove the right decision had been made in the end. They also say the decision was taken at the time using the resources available to the officials.
Watch the incident as Livingston and Aberdeen drew in the Scottish Premiership
A statement read: “The Scottish FA has today received a report from Hawkeye on the incident that occurred at Livingston’s match against Aberdeen, which confirmed that the Broadcast 18-Yard Left Camera suffered a loss of calibration and ceased line tracking on the relevant video frame.
“During the review, Hawkeye were able to reprocess the data through their system and draw the calibrated offside lines from the disallowed goal, which showed Angus MacDonald to be in an offside position.
“The VAR made the decision using the technology that was available and this decision was validated by Hawkeye’s retrospective recalibration conducted as part of their review.”
The earlier Aberdeen statement read: “The Scottish FA accepted there is no conceivable way the VAR could tell definitively the deepest position of Livingston midfielder Daniel McKay’s body, because from the only angle available – the 18-yard box camera on the Main Stand side – the lower half of McKay’s body is completely obscured from view, blocked by other players.
“Even if his full body was visible, it’s impossible to determine who was closest to the goal line with no on-pitch ‘markers’.
“Therefore, it was acknowledged by all in attendance at the meeting that the VARs had to effectively guess on what that position might have been based on the limited information available to them, and that was the basis on which to overrule the on-field call of the assistant referee, who did not raise his flag.
“It is our strong belief that in such an instance, and for the integrity of the game, the match officials should stick with their original on-field decision without the strength of evidence to overturn that and essentially re-referee the passage of play.
“This course of action was chosen ahead of asking the referee himself to look at the freeze frame and make a determination, which is permitted under the protocols when it’s a matter of opinion rather than factual, or more appropriately, in absence of a definitive outcome from the camera, sticking with the on-field decision, and giving the benefit of the doubt.”
The club added: “It perfectly highlights the limitations in the technology, the inappropriate implementation, the consistency of decision-making, and the negative impact on the overall experience for the match-going supporter.
“This is, of course, not an issue that we believe is in any way exclusive to Aberdeen FC. We are not being partisan because we believe a decision, or at least a process, has not been at all effective at the weekend.
“We acknowledge there have been occasions where we ourselves have been fortunate to have benefitted from some of the observations and limitations raised.”
Aberdeen pledged to continue playing an active role in the ongoing review of VAR’s use in Scotland and try to improve the output.
They added that they did not believe VAR is “enhancing the game in this country”.
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
