Bobby Madden’s account of the altercation between Motherwell and Rangers that resulted in injuries to Ross McCausland infuriated Michael Stewart.
During a live discussion regarding VAR on March 9, the BBC Sport pundit challenged the former SPFL referee’s interpretation of the incident involving Dan Casey’s challenge at Ibrox on March 2, which resulted in the Gers winger being substituted and leaving the pitch on crutches despite there being no foul.
The Well defender’s quick play “endangering the safety” of McCausland, according to Madden, was a red card offence. An irate Stewart argued that this was an attempt to take all risk out of the game, saying that it wasn’t “football as any of us know it.”
“That’s an interesting one because I’ve not heard anybody else that’s actually said that,” Stewart responded. It makes me feel a little sorry for John Lundstram. I agree with Bobby that it’s understandable why the player was awarded the penalty because his arm appears to be flying up and away from his body in an instant.
“I’ve watched this so many times and I’ve jumped between yellow and red,” Madden remarked (25m 25s). Ultimately, I was called for a major foul because of how quickly he accepted the challenge.
The former referee went on, “Playing the ball’s not an excuse,” as Stewart was reportedly seen in the background shaking his head and pulling a face. I consider it to be jeopardising safety when someone takes on a challenge at such speed.
“Essentially you’re saying football is going to be a non-contact sport,” Stewart retorted. What else should Dan Casey accomplish?
“You see, when Casey makes the challenge, the foot, that extension of his boot sole, it comes up,” Madden remarked. It doesn’t seem like a natural action to me. I know that doesn’t make contact. That definitely would have been a red card.
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“So if we deal with what actually happened then,” shot back Stewart.
“The pace on the left foot in that challenge, contacting the opponent’s shin, is dangerous,” Madden went on.
“Ross McCausland got injured there for everything you’re told as a player,” shot back an irate Stewart. “Avoid hanging a leg.” You will injure yourself if you dangle a leg. In the event that a still image of the occurrence is taken, Ross McCausland’s leg is always higher than Dan Casey’s.
“McCausland also shouldn’t receive punishment for that.” He feels uneasy about the task. Dan Casey is a 70-30 tackler. There’s nothing else that Casey could do other than what he did. He’s naturally rushing into a tackle; instead of accelerating or lifting his leg, he kicks the ball.
Ross McCausland comes into contact with his leg. If you’re playing football you have to accept that there’s an element of risk that there’s going to be contact with the opponent. If you want to eliminate risk then that is not a game of football as any of us know it, and I don’t think any of us want to know that. That is not a red card in my opinion.
“I could be persuaded that potentially it’s a foul and maybe a yellow card, but even then I would think it’s a bit harsh because I’m saying to myself, ‘what else can Dan Casey do there?’”
Madden accepted: “There’s a lot of people who are all or nothing. It’s either no foul or it’s all the way up to a red card. That’s the difficulty. I really did fluctuate between both.”
Ross McCausland injury in Rangers loss to Motherwell disputed
Philippe Clement was unhappy with his young winger being “kicked off the pitch” following the 2-1 defeat, with the fact that Casey scored the winner likely adding to the frustration.
Some pundits were convinced it was a bad challenge, while others have claimed there was nothing to the tackle and it was just a matter of physical play in Scotland, showing the difficulty officials have in never being able to please everyone.
They don’t help themselves by sometimes making decisions that virtually nobody understands, but even Madden and Stewart both admitted that their position was not steadfast if the former had flipped between cards and the latter could be convinced it was worth a booking after all.
It’s possible that McCausland’s injuries would have gone unnoticed, but his injuries arguably demonstrate that Casey put his opponent in risk from the start.
Although not everyone who sustains an injury has to be penalised, he accepted the challenge with a level of skill that was once commendable but is now often seen as excessive.
The league home loss was a frustrating day all around for the Light Blues, who were second best, but they might have salvaged a point if the incident had been penalised. Fortunately, McCausland appears to have avoided anything serious as he was able to come off the bench late in the Rangers draw in Benfica in midweek.
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