VAR Footage Shows Hearts Asked For Celtic Match To End After Pitch Invasion
The controversy surrounding the final minutes of Scottish football’s title decider just took a significant turn. The Scottish FA has released audio-visual footage from the closing stages of Celtic’s 3-1 win over Hearts, and it tells a very different story to the one Hearts have been publicly pushing.
Hearts went into the final day of the season one point ahead of Celtic, but Callum Osmand’s late stoppage-time goal to make it 3-1 sparked a pitch invasion by home supporters before play had technically restarted. What followed has dominated Scottish football debate all week.
Hearts wrote to the Scottish FA and SPFL questioning the “troubling precedent” set by what they called a “premature end” to the game. Club figures pointed fingers at referee Don Robertson, suggesting the match had been wound up incorrectly. Former Hearts chairman George Foulkes was among those who publicly questioned the decision.
But the footage tells a different story entirely.
The SFA released audio which states Derek McInnes, the Hearts head coach, was content to finish the match at that stage because he was concerned for his players’ safety with fans streaming onto the field. The key line from the audio is damning in its clarity: “Hearts are happy to finish, Don. Derek McInnes has told me he’s happy to finish. He wants his players off the pitch.” Referee Robertson then responds: “Confirming the match is finished.”
That is the sound of a manager asking for his players to be taken off the field. Not a premature ending. Not a decision made without consent.
The SFA confirmed that Robertson took the correct action in ending the game, and also moved to clarify the confusion around the final whistle, noting that the Laws of the Game require a referee to signal the end of a match but do not prescribe the method of that signal.
The SFA’s Chief Governance Officer Gary Booth, Head of Refereeing William Collum, and VAR Manager Martin Atkinson reviewed the footage earlier this week at Hearts’ request, with club chairman Calum Paterson present. It was meant to be a private meeting. Then Hearts went public with their complaints anyway, which forced the SFA’s hand.
The SFA stated: “While it was the agreed intention for this meeting to be conducted privately, recent statements have compelled us to consider the public interest in providing clarification.”
The scenes at Celtic Park were undeniably ugly. Police Scotland confirmed four arrests at the ground, two injured officers including one seriously, and a further 10 arrests in Glasgow city centre. Hearts said their players and staff suffered serious physical and verbal abuse. None of that is in dispute, and it remains a serious matter for Scottish football.
But the separate question of whether the match ended correctly now has a clear answer. Hearts asked for it to stop. The referee agreed. The title belongs to Celtic.
Whatever grievances remain about the disorder on the pitch, the football result is not one of them.
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