IFAB have ‘floated’ an idea to change VAR that will capture interest from the Celtic supporters

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VAR is a refereeing tool that has long frustrated the Celtic fans ever since it was introduced to Scottish football back in October 2022.

We told earlier how Michael Stewart highlighted the one thing about VAR that the new Head of Referees, Willie Collum, must tackle if the football supporters and the clubs are to trust the new refereeing technology.

The interpretation of the handball rule has punished Celtic on a number of occasions over the past two seasons and it is one law that frustrates every football fan in Scotland’s top-flight.

However, it is not that rule that seems to be getting looked at by independent football lawmakers, IFAB.

According to former SFA referee, Hugh Dallas, an idea has already been discussed by the UK-wide organisation that could give managers more control over how decisions are made in-game by the match officials.

IFAB is ‘listening’ to coaches and players

The former SFA ref has disclosed what he has heard IFAB are discussing and whilst plans to change how this VAR idea could be implemented are some way down the line, it could be one that really interests the Celtic support.

Dallas said [Scottish Football Podcast], “I think there are discussions going on as there always is. This is why the technical members of IFAB meet to float all these ideas.

“They listen to the players because now in UEFA and FIFA they have former players sitting in different committees because, of course, the players are the people that play the game, so they must have input.

“So they are listening to these things. And one of the things that’s been, I understand, been floated, is that the two challenges, maybe, for each coach, in addition, not cancelling VAR, in addition to the VAR process.

“These are things that I think have been discussed. You hear things that were discussed at a meeting last month or the month before and then it will go up the process until it’s floated and then it’s applied.”

So why would it interest the Celtic fans, I hear you ask? Well, if this change was already in place, Brendan Rodgers could have contested two massive decisions that cost Celtic crucial points in the league title race.

The 2-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle was fraught with controversy. Hjunjun Yang’s red card was thought by many to have been harsh.

And the Tomoki Iwata handball was just a ridiculous decision that put the game right out of Celtic’s reach.

If Rodgers had the ability to appeal both in-game, then the chances of the red card and penalty (probably mostly the latter) decisions being allowed to stand may have been reduced.

That in turn would not have led to the circus that followed as Rodgers called out the match officials which then led to the Celtic boss serving a one-game touchline ban.

There are whole host of decisions that went against Celtic that could have been looked at over the past two seasons.

It will be interesting to see if this law gets passed because if it does, then the whole VAR landscape could dramatically change once more.