Bobby Madden drops Dujon Sterling red card verdict after Rangers win v Aberdeen
Former referee Bobby Madden believes the decision to send off Dujon Sterling for Rangers against Aberdeen was correct and VAR shouldn’t have intervened.
The defender was shown a straight red card for a tackle that was deemed high and dangerous late on at Ibrox, which will result in a three-game ban should the club’s appeal be rejected.
But Madden, reacting to the decision on his personal Instagram account (7 February), believes VAR shouldn’t have intervened and the referee’s initial decision should have been supported as there were elements of a red card offence on display.
“Red card given live and VAR recommends on field review with referee standing by original decision,” he wrote.
“This is a tough call. You can’t only focus on the point of contact. Yes that’s on top of the foot but the speed, intensity and opportunity to play ball also have to be considered.
“If I was pushed I would side with a caution, however what I would say is that there are elements to support a red card so I believe the referees decision should be supported with no VAR review recommended.
“There will always be subjective decisions, with VAR or not, and we need to move away from re-refereeing games.”
Rangers should feel hard done by after Sterling red card
There’s no doubting that Rangers should be feeling hard done by with this incident, because there aren’t many people who feel a red card was deserved.
Sterling caught the top of the player’s foot but it wasn’t an out-of-control tackle, there was not any excessive force and the ball was clearly there to be won – it was just mistimed.
If that is a red card tackle then there will be multiple red cards in every game, and the fact the official decided to ignore VAR for the first time in what seems like forever makes it even crazier.
But with that said it didn’t effect the end result which was massive and clubs and fans have asked for referees to be braver when being sent to the monitor, and it wasn’t a cut and dry decision so it’s understandable why he went with it.
In an ideal world the appeal is upheld and Sterling is available, while other referees start to do the same when it comes to sticking to their guns and maybe we’ll eventually see VAR get to a place where it’s good rather than just annoying.
In other Rangers news, January masterstroke as transfer decision could double their money in summer.
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