Scottish referees ready for lift off after lessons from aviation experts
Scotland's referees have received communication training from aviation experts in a bid to help them deal with high-pressure situations.
Willie Collum, the Scottish Football Association head of referees, sought external help as he tries to sharpen the use of video technology ahead of the new league season.
"We think we've made big steps in terms of VAR," he said. "We've been very well supported by the Scottish FA and the clubs because we now have a VAR manager in place, Martin Atkinson, a very experienced former top referee in England, UEFA and FIFA.
"He's brought a lot to us in terms of communication, not only on-field communication, but communication in the video operations room and the VAR and the AVAR working together with each other.
"So we're really working hard to make sure that our processes are right, first and foremost. And we're obviously learning from any errors we've made and trying to improve the whole time.
"We spent time with the top match officials in the country and we brought two aviation experts to talk to the referees about their comms in the VAR and how they should be looking at incidents in that environment. Very similar to the cockpit, a high-pressure environment. Life or death for pilots. People might say life or death for football as well...
"But obviously that same kind of pressure environment, how do you communicate, how do you keep your composure, how do you take cognisance of what the situation is showing, what you're seeing?
"We felt it was a really good presentation. We felt it's helped a lot with communication, our processes and also about the calmness. It's really, really important to be calm in that environment, look at the wider environment, look at what you're seeing, not to be going down any tunnels.
"And also, pilot, co-pilot, VAR, AVAR, we know the responsibilities that both have."
Collum, who started his role last summer, has been focused on modernising Scotland's approach to refereeing.
"When I was coming through as a referee, there were two key things," he said. "You needed to know the laws of the game and you needed to have a certain level of fitness.
"Now there's a lot of concepts in terms of modern refereeing. Do you have a football understanding? Do you have tactical awareness of how teams are playing? Are you looking at the small details? Are you thinking about where your next problem's coming from? Are you thinking about what the next move would be? What the next decision would be?
Collum, who has introduced a fitness test based on shorter, sharper runs, added: "The best players know what's coming next, and the referees should be the same.
"We're talking here about, do I need to be ready for a long ball, a short ball? How is a team going to defend at corners? Where does my focus need to be?"
As well as referees, Collum has presented his priorities and guidelines to clubs, and feels the communication works both ways.
"We've made good connections with, for example, the PFA," he said. "We want a lot more dealings with players, coaches, managers. They're key stakeholders for us. We want to hear their voice. That's important.
"We've gone and presented to them. We don't just say, this is what's happening, here's what we're doing. We've asked them for feedback.
"We've even adjusted some of our pre-season guidelines because of the feedback we've had from clubs.
"We need to listen to their voice. We want to work together with them. That's crucial."
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