VAR

For many English football players and supporters the World Cup of 2018 was their first experience of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Many were sceptical and after some controversial decisions in the group stage, the system eventually evolved into what was viewed by many as a successful addition to top level football. Shirt tugging and holding in the box was punished and started to reduce, player diving was highlighted and not rewarded, and off the ball incidents were dealt with accordingly. The full use of the system was there for all to see, verbal confirmation of decisions, decisions made by the VAR, and the referee using the pitchside monitor to assist debatable calls. At the conclusion of the tournament the only questionable area seemed to be around handball with many handballs given harshly based on slow motion replays which did not give a fair representation of the speed of the game and the assessment of a players intention to handle.

Nevertheless a generally successful introduction of VAR at footballs showpiece event lead to most domestic leagues around Europe implementing it for the 2018/19 season. England resisted for a further year to allow for further refining of the system, and at the beginning of this, the 2019/20 season it was ready for roll out in the Premier League.

Personally I was originally against the introduction of VAR. The ups and downs of a season, the benefit of a dodgy decision vs the consequence of an incorrect decision, I have always thought of as part of the game. The World Cup changed by mind to an extent, the increase in penalties, the prevention of defenders getting away with fouls in the box that are free kicks elsewhere, I felt contributed to a more entertaining game. Therefore, although not a 'fan' of the system I was prepared to accept it entering our game on a weekly basis.

What has occurred in the Premier League since the opening of the season in August has changed my mind massively. The only conclusion i can draw from its use so far is that it is ruining the game in this country. The fundamental concept of getting the correct decision has been forgotten, the time delays in the games are frustrating and confusing for fans both at the games and watching at home on tv, there are remarkable levels of inconsistency, and most crucially for me the very best part of football, watching your team score a goal and celebrating it, has been removed.

The origins for this VAR shambles can be tracked back to the start of the season and the guidelines for the use of VAR in this country by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Firstly they decided that subjective calls such as 'is it a penalty', 'is it a red card' would only be overturned for clear and obvious errors for which there was a high bar set. Secondly, they assessed that checking pitchside monitors takes too long and delays the game so this element of VAR would not be used and all decisions would be taken by the referee on the field with his initial decision or an overrule by the VAR.

These two decisions have cause the VAR in this country to fail despite being relatively successful in other countries. For instance the high bar set for a clear and obvious error is unecessary. For a start, how is this assessment even made? At one point does an error go from being a little error, to a big error, to a clear and obvious error? Clearly this is subjective and not making best use of the technology. This can clearly be shown in several examples early on in the Premier League season. A number of penalties were turned down by referees who believed there was no contact. The VAR reviewed the replays, saw a slight trip or pull - technically a foul, but ruled it was not a big enough foul to result in it being overturned. The issue here is that the onfield referee has missed the contact completely and had he seen the contact awarded a penalty - this therefore is a clear and obvious error. An easy resolution is for the VAR to advise the referee there was contact and allow the referee to view the replay and either confirm his original thoughts, or change his mind when he sees something he has missed.

This failure of the PGMOL to utilise VAR in the way the rest of Europe has done was compelled by the apparant reluctance of referees to overrule their colleagues. Youri Tielemans committed a shocking foul for Leicester against Bournemouth, high, over the ball, and late, a clear red card irrespective of the high bar this was a clear and obvious error but nothing was given. The only conclusion you can draw from this is that rather than focusing on getting the correct decision they are more concerned with not upsetting their mate by overruling their decisions. In the first ten weeks of the season not a single subjective decision was overruled - 100% correct decisions on the field then!

Inevitably the poor use of VAR early on in the season lead to much controversy and last weekend the high bar seemed to go out of the window. From clear penalties not being over turned, suddenly spot kicks were awarded, overruling the onfield decision despite replays showing they were probably not fouls. Dan James for Man Utd at Norwich and Sokratis disallowed goal for Arsenal were the two most high profile VAR controversies.

Which brings us to this weekend, and what feels like a significant landmark in the life of VAR in England. Saturday saw Roberto Firmino have a goal chalked off for Liverpool when a portion of his armpit was deemed offside - technically this is a line call and so not open to interpretation but the impact it has on the game is huge. Less goals and making it harder to score goes against the principles of entertainment and also stops players and supporters enjoying the instant ecstasy of scoring a goal. Today saw Everton take on Spurs and the worst of VAR was there for all to see, I will deal with the talking points one at a time

1. Mina foul on Son - Son breaks into box, Mina falls over colliding with Sons knee, Son goes over with an exaggerated fall. Martin Atkinson ignores the penalty claims presumably believing Son dived. Replays show a foul - incorrect decision given

2. Alli handball - Ball into box which hits Deli Alli's hand as he challenges Mina. Atkinson awards no penalty but unclear if this is because he doesn't see the handball or because he doesnt believe it was intentional A three minute delay occurs while the same replay is viewed over and over and no penalty is awarded, despite Alli handling the ball above his head - incorrect decision given, and an unacceptable length of delay to the game.

3. Son red card for foul on Gomes - Gomes suffers horrific injury after a trip by Son and his foot gets caught in the ground. Atkinson awards a yellow card, then sees the injury and changes the card to red. Replays show a standard foul which probably occurs numerous times in a game and is a compulsory yellow card. VAR fails to intervene to overturn the red card, wrongly awarded based on the outcome of the foul rather than the nature of the foul. This is justified with the foul being classed as endangering an opponent, but on that basis, every foul that results in an opponent falling over could be classed as a red card - incorrect decision given.

This shows that the VAR system in its current use is ineffective. It is failing in its primary function of getting more decisions correct and is spoiling the game. I believe that it could still be successful if used differently, taking into account success in other sports.

If the TV Match Official from rugby process is incorporated into football then this would eliminate a lot of problems. For example, taking the Alli handball, Atkinson could stop the game, communicate with the VAR that something has occurred in the box and he would like it checked. VAR can check the replays and if there is no contact with the hand then this can be relayed back and the game restarted. If there is contact with the hand, the onfield referee is shown the best replays and makes a decision based on those. This is both more likely to result in a correct decision, and will keep the supporters aware of what is happening. This is also a process which should not delay the game unecessarily.

Another sport where video replays are successful is cricket. In cricket teams get two referrals where they can dispute a decision they believe is incorrect. This could also be used in football and limit the interference of the VAR and preserve the spectacle. For example teams would only use their referrals for VAR if they are definitely sure they have been on the wrong end of a bad decision as they would lose their referral if a decision is not overturned. This would mean not every goal, penalty claim, red card appeal would be checked, only those that are deemed by the team penalised to be incorrect.

What is certain is that VAR is here to stay in England, what needs to happen is that the PGMOL needs to stop being so introvert with the system and allow the full use of the technology to both speed up the process and improve accuracy. In football as a whole, the successes of other sports TV officials need to be incorporated as soon as possible, the worlds biggest game should be the leader in developing the use of technology not living in the dark ages while other sports prosper.