Commentary from the KMI Panel on the Rugby Park incident
Reo Hatate, a midfielder for Celtic, should have been sent off during Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, according to a Scottish FA panel. Referee Nick Walsh gave Hatate a yellow card for catching Liam Donnelly high above the ankle without the onfield review that VAR operator Don Robertson had suggested.
This week’s Key Match Incident Review panel included the incident, which happened in the 79th minute after Celtic had already taken a two-goal lead through Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn.
By a vote of three to two, the five-member committee also determined that Hatate should have been sent off, finding both VAR Robertson and referee Walsh to have made a mistake in judgement.
The incident, which occurred in the 79th minute after Celtic had already built a two-goal lead through Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn, was featured on this week’s Key Match Incident Review panel.
The five-member committee also decided that Hatate should have been sent off by a vote of three to two, concluding that referee Walsh and VAR Robertson had both erred in their judgement.
Derek McInnes, the manager of Kilmarnock, has no complaints about the decision, but the conclusions nonetheless came. “Do you know?” McInnes said after full-time.
I felt it was rather high at the time. It didn’t seem like it had much force. And occasionally, when it comes to VAR, I’m sure the images wouldn’t have looked well.
To be honest, though, I’m not sure if it was a red card in terms of actual force. We would accept it, of course, as I believe we have been victims of a lot, but sometimes you don’t get these little breaks when playing a side like Celtic. However, I didn’t believe it was subjected to much force. It wasn’t a poor tackle in my opinion.
Kris Boyd, a Sky Sports analyst, had a different opinion. “It’s a red card all day long,” the former Rangers striker declared.
In terms of force, you can’t catch a player that far up the leg and turn around and apologise and get away with it because he turns around and apologises. He catches him just below the knee, which is directly on top of the leg.
You can’t avoid being sent off. Don Robertson makes a mistake in the VAR room after the referee makes a mistake on the pitch. That is a red card for the rest of the day.
The KMI Panel examined ten instances from the Scottish Premiership games played on the weekend of November 9–10, and they did not discover any additional inaccurate results.
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