The SFA have released a statement addressing the end to Celtic vs Hearts on the final day of the Scottish Premiership season, which saw the home side run out 3-1 victors.
There have been a lot of assumptions about the end of the match. A pitch invasion resulted in the referee blowing his whistle to indicate that the clash was over, but Hearts wrote to the SFA and SPFL on Wednesday for clarification over the incident.
There was speculation that the match had not been brought to a close and had instead been abandoned, but the SFA disputed this and quickly claimed that the referee had made them aware before the trophy was presented to the Hoops that the match had been officially ended.
Now, the SFA have released the audio of the match to back them up, and it is undeniable that the game was not abandoned.
In the footage, Don Robertson confirms that the opposition were happy to finish the game, which directly contradicts the claim made in their statement. They said:
[We have expressed] our concern that a troubling precedent has been set whereby a pitch invasion can effectively determine the duration of a football match, rather than the match officials.
In the video shared by the SFA, it is confirmed by the referee that Hearts manager Derek McInnes was happy for the game to be drawn to a close. Robertson confirmed to his staff:
Hearts are happy to finish. Hearts are happy to finish. Derek McInnes has told me they are happy to finish.
That should be the end of the matter, but sadly, it seems that the fallout from Celtic’s title victory will continue. There is a constant debate being had on social media despite the now-publicly available evidence that nothing was afoot. The Jambos had every right to leave the ground in the way that they did; you couldn’t have expected them to watch the Hoops celebrate their fifth consecutive league title, but their fighting their corner despite evidence suggesting otherwise is concerning.
McInnes is yet to comment publicly on the matter.
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