He admitted that “15 years ago, this is a red” card but pointed out that the incident was viewed as “violent conduct” rather than “serious foul play” under current rules.
“The goalkeeper is in possession of the ball when the contact is made, so we don’t regard this as a challenge for the ball,” Collum explained.
Walsh and the video assistant referee (VAR) team then had to decide “whether excessive force” was used.
“The referee comes to the conclusion there’s not enough force, it is not brutality for him and the contact is negligible,” Collum said.
He said this was clear from the recording of the onfield communication between Walsh and the VAR team.
“You immediately hear him say reckless yellow and then he’s in a long conversation with the captain of Rangers, but at that point he is also communicating with the VAR and he talks about the level of force,” Collum added.
“He also talks about the studs and, for him, there’s no use of the studs here. The VAR look at the images and they don’t see anything either that tells them anything other than that.”
