Former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy badly overstated the Scottish FA’s KMI panel ruling on Celtic’s late Motherwell penalty.
Celtic beat Motherwell at Fir Park after a last second penalty that was awarded for handball allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to step up and score to claim all three points for the Hoops in the title race.
The KMI panel delivered a 2:1 split on the award yet Roache and Conroy on The Ref’s View social media account reacted as though the decision was beyond dispute.
Should Derek McInnes face punishment for his response to Celtic’s penalty call against Motherwell?
The KMI panel vote on Celtic penalty was not definitive
The KMI panel ruling concluded the penalty awarded for Celtic should not have stood.
The panel also judged the VAR intervention incorrect. However, the decision was reached by a narrow 2:1 majority. One panel member still believed the penalty was correct. And this is how The Ref’s View reacted:
This clearly undermines the former referees’ assertion that “The WORLD knew it was wrong.” Even within the panel, there was disagreement.
It is important to remember the KMI panel is not a rules tribunal. It is composed of anonymous contributors from football backgrounds, including former players and pundits, giving their opinions post-match.
The Celtic penalty criticism went beyond what the facts support
While Celtic supporters were delighted with the correct interpretation of the ruled, the former referees escalated their reaction with claims about Andrew Dallas having “too much influence” and the call being obviously wrong.
IFAB states that handball is an offence when a player “touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger.”
Former referees should have focused on the factual basis: the KMI panel was split, and the laws were applied properly. Instead, their hyperbole weakened their credibility in their assessment of the criticism.
The split KMI verdict already showed this was not the universally “wrong” decision Roache and Conroy tried to portray. Once the actual IFAB wording is applied, the certainty in their reaction becomes even harder to defend.
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