Willie Collum has thrown his support behind both referee John Beaton and VAR official Andrew Dallas over the controversial Celtic penalty decision at Fir Park.
The call to penalise Sam Nicholson for handball sparked widespread debate after the converted 96th-minute spot kick kept Celtic’s title hopes alive heading into the final day of the season.
Celtic went on to beat Hearts on the final day to claim a fifth successive Premiership crown, making the Fir Park decision one of the most scrutinised calls of the campaign.
VAR audio from the incident has since been released, with Dallas stating the ball definitively struck Nicholson’s hand and confirming as much when Beaton asked whether it was a definite handball.
Despite widespread public scepticism, refs chief Collum insisted both officials had clear evidence to support the handball ruling based on available footage.
“For us there’s clear evidence, particularly the still image,” Collum told the Sky Sports VAR Review Show. “In our opinion this is clear.”
Collum explained that Nicholson’s arm was already in an unnatural position before contact and moved further into that position during the challenge, placing responsibility on the player.
“The key for me is Nicholson’s hand and arm are already in an unnatural position. It moves further into an unnatural position. The player takes a huge risk when he jumps with his hand in that position,” Collum said.
He also defended the consistency of handball decisions, citing previous calls involving Falkirk against Hibs and Connor Barron against Falkirk as examples of a uniform approach by officials.
“We felt he wasn’t trying to get his arm out of the position. We didn’t feel he was trying to protect his face, it wasn’t a shot coming at him from a close distance,” Collum added.
On the question of whether Beaton should have independently judged the handball rather than deferring to Dallas, Collum was direct in his explanation of the review process.
“When you bring a ref to the monitor, you’ve already come to the conclusion that it’s hit the hand. The ref’s focus has to be to check the position of the arm,” Collum said.
Collum also addressed the separate penalty incident involving Hearts days earlier, where Tawanda Mashwanise’s challenge on Alexandros Kyzirids went unpunished by referee Steven McLean.
“My personal opinion is that’s a penalty. There’s some debate within refereeing and we’ll discuss it in pre-season. But I feel it should be awarded,” Collum stated plainly.
He acknowledged that the angles shown to McLean at the monitor may have contributed to uncertainty, and said discussions with referees and clubs would follow before next season begins.
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