THAT PENALTY EXPLAINED

WHAT has puzzled me since Rangers won the Old Firm game, is the continuing row about why referee Willie Collum awarded a penalty.

There have been numerous versions put forward as to why Collum pointed to the spot, and just as many as to why he should never have made the decision.

But the one which takes the biscuit, and which is going the rounds in Celtic circles, is that Collum should not have given a penalty because he did not see any offence to lead him to that decision.

It is a preposterous notion that any referee would ever give a decision based on something he did not see, and here are many instances of an official saying that he could not give a free kick because, from the position he was in when the incident happened, he could not see it.

A referee cannot give what he does not see. It is a clear cut and simple as that.

So what was it that Collum saw which led him to believe Rangers deserved a penalty when Kirk Broadfoot flew threw the air inside the box with Daniel Majstorovic in close attendance?

Well, the evidence is out there, and if anyone choses to view the clip of the incident with  eyes and mind open they will see what Collum saw when he turned back towards the two players.

To start with the ref had attempted to get out of the way of the ball and, in doing so, turned his back on where the ball broke to, which was into the path of Broadfoot, with Majstorovic shaping to make a challenge.

By the time Collum's eyes were back on the ball, so to speak, what he saw was Broadfoot in mid-air with both of Majstorovic's hands planted smack bang in the the middle of the Rangers man's chest.

Therefore it was reasonable for the referee to spot that as an offence and act accordingly.

Much has been made of the way the Celtic defender made efforts to pull out of any challenge, and much has also been made of allegations of Broadfoot diving. The clips of the incident provide pros and cons for both shades of opinion.

But what those clips clearly show - with no shades of grey - is that the Celtic man placed his hands on the chest of the Rangers player, and that Willie Collum saw that.

Now this was a split second judgement in the midst of an Old Firm game, and one which had swung away from Celtic and in favour of Rangers in the opening 20 minutes of the second half.

The play was fast and furious. The calls Collum had to make were many. And all of them brought protests and howls from the players, not to mention the baying of the crowd.

It was a split second judgement which Collum had to make right there and right then. He did not have the luxury of viewing it a dozen or so times in slow motion and from various angles.

All he saw was Broadfoot in mid air and Majstorovic with his two hands on the chest of the Rangers man. Was he not entitled to think - in that blink of an eye - that it was a penalty?

Had, for instance, the incident had happened at the other end of the field and involved, for example, Anthony Stokes flying through the air with Madjid Bougherra's hands on his chest, would Collum's decision have been to award a penalty?

Of course it would have been.

Frankly, I fail to see what all the fuss has been about. And I wonder just what Michel Platini, who was there to see it, and who spoke out the next day in support of referees, thought about all the ballyhoo.

As a football man, Platini would no doubt have taken time to view what happened on the many clips available on the internet, and he would have seen what Collum saw, and therefore understood the referee's decision.

And, like me, the UEFA president may well have wondered just what all the fuss has been about.  Though unlike me, he would have been able to dismiss it all with a fine Gallic shrug.