Rule changes are necessary to prevent pitch invasions

 Ian Maxwell, chief executive of the Scottish FA, says Scottish football must consider adapting its rules to try to end pitch invasions by fans. The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has launched disciplinary proceedings into five incidents where fans invaded the pitch, including two last-round title matches. An independent review of incidents following the Scottish Cup quarter-final match, in which Celtic beat Rangers and fans of both clubs rushed onto the pitch, is due to report its results next week. In an interview with BBC Sport Scotland, Maxwell said the phenomenon had gone from a rare, celebratory event to an increasingly common and therefore more dangerous problem. "Football needs to come together to try and address this," he said. "We had a meeting this week and pitch intrusions were at the top of the agenda. We need to look at our regulations - do they need to be improved, updated or changed? We need to work with the clubs to understand what options we have to prevent this. The police also have a role in this, and the SPFL has talked about introducing laws that would criminalize pitch intrusions and tailgating. That would help, but it's not something one institution can do on its own. there should be a combination of action by the police, football authorities and clubs to eliminate this." Earlier this month, a 19-year-old man was charged "in connection with breaching data protection laws" after judge John Beaton's personal details were revealed online. This happened after the referee awarded a controversial penalty to Celtic in the penultimate match of the Champions League, where Celtic eventually won the title. Beaton and his family, the Scottish FA said, had to have police protection at their home after the incident. "When a situation arises where judges' data is released, it is unacceptable and we cannot allow it under any circumstances," Maxwell added. "We need to look at how clubs speak after matches, what coaches and players say, and the media, how they fuel these discussions and how they criticize. Criticism is part of the game and always will be, but when it turns to the level of conspiracy theories and bias, it crosses the line and we have to respond to it." The use of VAR has been a frequent topic of discussion this season and Maxwell denies that Scotland only uses a basic version of the technology. He said the system is the same as in "over 50% of UEFA countries", with the same technology and the same number of cameras. "I hear comments about 'light VAR' regularly and they make no sense," Maxwell added. "We have exactly the same system as everyone else. VAR works as it should when it comes to eliminating errors. But we're not talking about these errors, we're talking about the smaller number of errors that still happen. Sometimes these are not mistakes that should happen, they just cause discussions because they can be assessed differently depending on which team you support." --- ## Related Articles 1. [Gosip Scottish: Fagan-Walcott, Hatate, Araujo, Dykes, Windass, Stephenson](https://harimaugoal.com/ms/news/gosip-scottish-fagan-walcott-hatate-araujo-dykes-windass-stephenson) 2. [PaulMcGovern: Falkirk hires the eighteen-year-old winger from Glenavon](https://azzurrigoal.com/it/news/paul-mcgovern-falkirk-ingaggia-lala-diciottonne-dal-glenavon)