St Johnstone have been relegated from the top flight of Scottish football in ridiculous circumstances.
Demoted by the most frivolous of penalties — a last-minute handball in a game they weren’t even playing.
It can be argued that Saints will find themselves playing in the Championship next season because their performances over 38 games, come the weekend, haven’t been good enough.
Of course there’s a truth to that.
But they have been denied the chance to fight for survival on the final day because of one farcical decision in Dundee’s draw with Ross County.
The slightest of flicks off a defender’s hand as he’s facing away from the ball had referee Nick Walsh point to the spot.
Anyone who’s watched football for more than five minutes can see it’s not a penalty.
It’s the perfect time for VAR to step in, to say: “I think you’ll want to watch that one back, Nick”.
But there was radio silence from VAR.
And so the penalty stood, County slotted it home and Saints are sent packing to the second tier.
VAR goes missing when needed most
Of all the times VAR has needlessly imposed itself on football games, why did it choose this moment to go missing?
The SFA will no doubt say it wasn’t an obvious enough error to justify intervention.
But that is a nonsense.
If VAR is good at one thing, it’s sticking its nose in when it’s not wanted.
For seasons now, fans have sat in stadiums waiting aeons while the video refs fast forward and rewind minor indiscretions, with those who put their hard-earned cash into the game usually given little information about why the match has been paused.
They have been made to still their celebrations as officials review all angles of a goal to see if there’s any possible reason it can be chopped off.
Cheers then turn to boos as the assistants spend an age scrolling the footage.
We are told that this is somehow an improvement on the game. That there will be less controversies because of VAR.
Wednesday night blows that argument out of the water.
How can a team be relegated over an incorrect decision when we have guys sitting watching the replays on screens, speaking directly into the referee’s ear?
It’s madness.
Technology creates new controversies
We have introduced a technology that is sapping the excitement from games and when it comes to the big decisions, the crucial moments, it fails.
If ever there was an incident to illustrate how useless an intrusion on our game VAR has been then this handball is it.
A decision with huge ramifications, not just for St Johnstone but for Dundee as well, and the video guys sit it out.
I genuinely don’t see the point of it.
Instead of removing doubt over decisions, VAR has created a whole new level of ire and confusion.
Pre-VAR, Nick Walsh may still have given that penalty and Saints would be heading for the Championship.
Fans would still have been angry.
But there would have been an understanding that referees make mistakes in the moment.
Now fans have to deal with the fact it’s not just the referee who got the decision wrong but also the two guys sitting in a van watching it on TV.
There seems to be no cohesion about when VAR gets involved and when it doesn’t.
At games you’re often left with the feeling that refs leave incidents for the technology to deal with.
Other times, nothing moments lead to lengthy stoppages as VAR tries to give itself a reason for existing.
All of it is to the detriment of the game as an experience for fans.
Now with this latest shambles, not only have Saints been denied their chance to fight for final day survival, but Scottish football has also been robbed of the drama and the spectacle we all crave.
It’s time VAR was relegated as well.
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