V A R

[Imurg]

Asking for officials to be at least part competent to do a half decent job isn’t undermining them .

Er..... Yes it is.
You're brandishing every match official as incompetent.
If that's not undermining I don't know what is.
Even if a ref is facing an offence, it doesn't follow that he will see what can be seen from another angle, he may be in the process of glancing the other way..
I actually wonder why anyone would want to be a ref.
When your wife gets death threats because someone doesn't agree with a decision is just unbelievable.
People make mistakes..all the time. All of us do.

The speed things happen in football, it's a wonder any decisions are correct.

 

[GB72]

Er..... Yes it is.
You're brandishing every match official as incompetent.
If that's not undermining I don't know what is.
Even if a ref is facing an offence, it doesn't follow that he will see what can be seen from another angle, he may be in the process of glancing the other way..
I actually wonder why anyone would want to be a ref.
When your wife gets death threats because someone doesn't agree with a decision is just unbelievable.
People make mistakes..all the time. All of us do.

The speed things happen in football, it's a wonder any decisions are correct.

Totally agree. Amazing how the quality of refereeing has deteriorated with the advent of every match being on TV, every incident being visible from dozens of camera angles and is super slow high definition. I am not sure that the standard has changed much at all but the ability to analyse every incident in minute detail has increased the number of complaints about officiating (which coincidentally helps fill the hours of talk radio, TV analysis etc that now exist).

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Totally agree. Amazing how the quality of refereeing has deteriorated with the advent of every match being on TV, every incident being visible from dozens of camera angles and is super slow high definition. I am not sure that the standard has changed much at all but the ability to analyse every incident in minute detail has increased the number of complaints about officiating (which coincidentally helps fill the hours of talk radio, TV analysis etc that now exist).

I'd love to see an old match from the 70's refereed now. One with Keith Hackett please as he is always keen to put the boot in. Re-run, use tech to add camera angles where they didn't exist before and have a ref in a studio picking out the mistakes. I am sure the mistakes would be vast.

People love to hammer refs but they don't have 20 cameras to view from, they don't have 10 minutes to pour over the replays. It really annoys me when co-commentators on radio or tv will make a judgement in real time then after seeing a replay that reverses their original opinion start to rip into the ref. Add to that the managers who complain about decisions but defend their player that dives to con the ref. Everything is designed against the ref and VAR could finally help them in this modern era. They just need better implementation.

Rant over.

 

[Foxholer]

Having debates about decisions etc is all part of the game after and all the pub talk etc again is all part of the game...

Complete twaddle imo! It might be entertaining or good conversation/banter, but it's not something that should be 'part of the game'! It's the same as Diving and other attempts to con the Ref should not be 'part of the game'!

...
Change what can happen after the game - allow any incidents to be looked at again and be punished including diving and violent conduct regardless of what the ref has done during the game
...

Totally agree with this though!

...If you are going to bring it in then it should be used for occasions where a penalty is being decided or if it’s a red card or not - both cases where the ref has already blown and needs clarification and then they need the decisions from the VAR to be done in two mins at the most

I'd add 'or Goal scored' to this!

Two mins is still too long, except in exceptional cases! It needs to get quicker (on average).

Football is significantly different to Rugby. Use of VAR needs to be tailored to reflect the diferences too.

If it means more accurate/fewer wrong decisions are made, then I'm all for it, even if there's a (small) delay involved!

 

[Orikoru]

It needs to be in football but they're doing it totally wrong at the moment. Rather than the ref stopping the game and everyone having to wait for him to figure it out, there should just be a fourth/fifth official with access to the TV coverage. He can message the ref via earpiece if he's made a mistake so it can be rectified - if he hasn't made a mistake, there is no need to sit around for ages for him to assess it again.

Right now it's farcical as it's taking far too long, and also being used for far too many incidents - refs are second guessing themselves and reviewing things unnecessarily just because they know it's there.

 

[SteveJay]

If other sports, like rugby and cricket (where the outcome is potentially game changing, at least for the batsman, and is working to far more stringent tolerances) can embrace the technology effectively then I am sure football can, but agree we are a long way off an acceptable state at the moment. Fans in the ground having no idea what is going on is ridiculous.

I think refereeing standards have fallen, no doubt compounded by blatant cheating. However, do those that advocate the technology suggest that we could go all the way and dispense with a referee on the pitch? Surely a few qualified referees watching from multiple angles on monitors with slow mo etc, would be more effective than a few guys on the pitch trying to keep up with todays highly trained athletes and making judgements based on a split second reaction to something that happened in a blink of an eye?

Do those in favour of VAR advocate that is the future? If not why not, as until you do that we will always (rightly in my mind) remain reliant on a ref's judgement and be prone to the occasional referee error

 

[Bunkermagnet]

My solution would be 2 refs watching screens with both having real time input. If they both agree on something, then its relayed to the onfield ref who is the final arbitor. Takes the need out as well for the extra goal line "refs".

 

[AmandaJR]

My solution would be 2 refs watching screens with both having real time input. If they both agree on something, then its relayed to the onfield ref who is the final arbitor. Takes the need out as well for the extra goal line "refs".

That's an interesting concept. Along the lines of boxing judges so if they both press the same button, say marked "PENALTY" then the onfield ref gets an alert. Only one presses and no alert. At least then 3 guys share the ref bashing rather than one!