A lot has been made about refereeing and VAR decisions in Scottish football over the years. And it does not look like the conversation is going away anytime soon, especially if the events of the weekend are taken into account. Celtic found themselves on the losing end against Hibernian.

Celtic have been nowhere near their best in a while, one could argue since early 2025. So, the result had been coming. At the same time, they have every right to feel hard done by some of the officiating decisions on the day.

Most feel that they should have received a penalty kick against Hibernian. But Auston Trusty's red card has emerged as a topic of discussion as well.

Admittedly, it is something that has divided the opinion of even the Celtic fanbase. Some feel that it was the right decision to send him off; others don't.

Celtic have lost their appeal over Trusty’s red card. As a result, he is set to be banned for the next three games, missing an important run for the Hoops.

Trusty has arguably been Celtic's best defender over the course of this season, with Cameron Carter-Vickers out of action for the foreseeable future after undergoing surgery. As a result, his absence against the Rangers will come as a major blow for the Hoops, who already look shaky at the back.

That is clearly something that has not gone down well with the football club. They have even released an official statement. It goes on to read: "We are hugely disappointed at today’s decision, which will now result in Auston Trusty being suspended for three matches after an “arm to arm” contact as he looked to release himself from being held prior to the ball coming into play - the kind of incident which features in games across the country week in week out.

"The match audio demonstrates that the referee saw the incident clearly. Immediately following the incident, the referee said: “It's nothing I’m just going to speak to them” in terms of no further action being required."

Well, it was an intervention from VAR that led to the decision. That is something that has been a problem for many, who feel that games are now being re-refereed using technology.

As Celtic's statement further goes on to read: "However, VAR again decided to intervene to ‘re-referee’ an initial decision which had been made. 

"While we await the written judgement, this and other decisions in the match and in other recent games demonstrate a serious issue with VAR and its current deployment which needs urgently reviewed."

Of course, the statement is not going to change anything in terms of the decision or the three-game ban that Trusty is set to serve. But at the same time, one can hope that it can lead to some changes in the long run, when it comes to how games are being officiated in Scotland.

VAR was brought in to help improve the quality of decisions being made by referees. But unfortunately, so many years on, it continues to be a topic of debate and something that continues to cause fresh issues.

No wonder such a fuss is made whenever the Scottish FA announces the team of officials for big games. When John Beaton takes charge of the next Glasgow Derby, on March 1 at Ibrox, a lot of eyes will be on the decisions that he makes. Hopefully, they won't go on to have any real impact on the overall result of the game.

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