Norwich City news: Ex-Fifa official calls for radical change as Grant Hanley controversy analysed

Norwich City news: Ex-Fifa official calls for radical change as Grant Hanley controversy analysed

Keith Hackett

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on

Keith Hackett has called for the introduction of VAR at all levels after Norwich City defender Grant Hanley was penalised in Scotland's 1-1 draw with Poland.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Premier League and Fifa official said the camera angles provided by VAR would have provided clarity on the controversial penalty decision.

As shown by Sky Sports (24 March), Steve Clarke’s side were denied the victory after a penalty was awarded to Poland late on at Hampden Park.

Krzysztof Piatek went to ground after minimal contact from Scotland and Norwich City centre-back Hanley and referee Robert Hennessy pointed to the spot.

Piatek converted the penalty with the game finishing all square in the end.

When asked by Football Insider's Dylan Childs for his thoughts on the controversial incident at Hampden Park, Hackett said:

"It highlights once again the need for VAR at all levels.

"What would have given clarity is the camera angle that would have been afforded to them by VAR. The referee would have been able to get that crucial second angle if they had VAR.

"This is why we need it in the game. It should be standard at elite level football."

Speaking to the BBC about the incident, Clarke said: “The penalty puts a little downer on it.

“We didn't look like conceding, we had good control of the game, and we had a lot of good work tonight. It is a penalty decision for a friendly game. It was soft.”

www.footballinsider247.com