Kris Boyd has lambasted Rangers for continuing to put pressure on VAR official Willie Collum after he decided not to give the team a penalty in the 2-1 loss to Celtic at Parkhead.
Boyd said that, while the decision was poor, as most people watching could see, the harassment and witch-hunt against Collum is preposterous and must end.
He expressed concern about the impact of their claims on Collum’s family and personal life after Rangers demanded that the official be barred from officiating any future games.
Boyd pleaded in his Daily Record editorial [4 January]: “It is one thing to critique individual actions. It is quite another thing to suggest premeditated wrongdoing.
“That’s what Gers have effectively done by requesting Collum plays no part in their games in future, and that’s not right.
“For a start, this is a guy who has got to the top of refereeing, someone who has more European experience than Rangers or Celtic in recent years.
“More importantly, though, he is a husband and a father. The scrutiny he’s been put under in the last week has been nothing short of ridiculous.
“Because everyone has a responsibility, now more than ever, to consider what they are saying about people and how that’s affecting them. Maybe Collum couldn’t care less about this whole controversy, I don’t know.
“But he’s got a family and it can’t be nice for them to be in the eye of the storm, all because of something that happened inside the penalty box in a game of football.”
Boyd makes a valid argument.
While the continuous examination of officiating, particularly of the Scottish FA following their statement in response to Rangers, is reasonable and possibly just, the hatred directed at Collum is not.
That cannot be deemed the club’s fault. They are finally appealing a division judgment that went against them in such a critical game in the context of their season, and they are asking questions about how that decision was made, but the charges concerning Collum are a little exaggerated.
As Boyd points out, everyone makes mistakes, and that is exactly what happened. It was a bad choice, and the Rangers were never going to be thrilled about it, but it was just a man doing his job incorrectly.
To suggest that he be barred from judging future games for the Ibrox club is as far-fetched as implying that any incorrect decision was done with malice or intent, and any abuse directed at the official should be firmly condemned by the club.
