VAR is not the problem
The issue is those who are using video assistance and making decisions without any common sense. This is a referee problem.
The incompetence at this level of the game is bad for European Football. The referees always get away with it with no repercussions. The players, the managers & the clubs will pay for their mistakes while these referees just move on to the next match.
Until the referees are held accountable for their decisions this sport is not enjoyable to watch anymore. If they find the job difficult then find someone who is capable of doing the job.
The state of refereeing now is so so bad that I t might not even be wild to speculate that this seems to be a planned execution by the referees association to discredit the use of video assistance, so the game will go back to being played the old way where their decision is the final and they don’t have to refer to a third party.
How difficult can it be to make a decision with the help of VAR ? It has to be such a useful a tool. It makes no sense as to why it’s being implemented so poorly.
I honestly would be in full support of AI to replace these humans who seem completely incapable of using their common sense.
It’s hard to justify talking time to watch this sport when someone’s lack of common sense can completely ruin the competition & fun in football.
You seem to believe that there is a hidden wealth of world-class referees somewhere such that if we deem that one of our referees isn’t good enough, we can simply replace him with one of these mythical ones.
The laws of football are, and will always inherently be, subjective. The interpretation of these rules will always be subjective. The reason cricket’s version of VAR works (and why it’s such a bad comparison) is because the rules of cricket are objective.
Here’s an idea, instead of trying to get out referees to understand it why not see if we can get some cricket & rugby referees trained up to give it a go in football.
I mean I literally said in my comment why cricket is a bad comparison, but I’d love to see Rugby style refereeing in football. The only problem is that the change in culture required for it to be effective is a long way away unfortunately
That’s why I suggest pulling in experts from other sports rather than upskilling football referees.
To be honest I don’t think we do that enough, football has this silly notion of needing all its participants to have been sat at the alter of its greatness all their lives.
In subjective decisions, like is a foul, yes. But offside, for example, is objective. Cricket deals with this with umpires call. A similar system could be introduced for close offsides, with Lino’s call for close ones, say <> 30cm
I can already picture the outrage when one of the big teams have a goal that was onside given as offside on the field of play and it was a close onside so the referees decision is stuck with. Imagine one players shoulder is a close onside in one incident and in another incident another players foot is a close offside but the first was given offside and the latter onside on-field - you will get calls of corruption - especially if it happens to benefit a Man City or Liverpool.
It will always be subjective, and at lease some elements of subjectivity as the football rules are open to interpretation to a certain extent.
But the process can be more transparent, more systematic with more accountability. And with more transparency, we can understand why certain calls are made and evaluate what can be improved instead of having all sorts of conspiracies flying around.
Even with the VAR audio being released, people still claim conspiracy.
There would be if the sport treated refereeing with the same professionalism we expected from all of our other sportsmen.
If we paid them more and stopped treating them like shit, yeah probably
The pay has nothing to do with it.
The entire system is corrupt and broken because it’s an old boys club.
And on those judgements in cricket that are subjective, the players and fans accept that and move on.
Seriously, part of the problem is people obsessing over the match officials far too much and looking far too hard for any supposed slight on their team or a bigger reason than “it’s a subjective call”. The notions of"corruption" that occur on here every week are, frankly, laughable.
I also watch a sport that has had a video referee for nearly 30 years - rugby league was the first sport in the UK to regularly use video referees in its domestic league and even now, the same debates that surround VAR surround that sport’s use.of video match officials. People who expected VAR to bring a new dawn of flawless, consistent decision making were expecting the impossible.
Yes VAR can improve, but people have to accept it’s limitations…
A run, or wicket in cricket is not particularly noteworthy, you don’t want to miss them of course but it’s a much smaller deal than getting a goal incorrect.
a wicket is pretty noteworthy especially if it’s a good batter
I’ve commented before but the accusations of corruption, being paid off by a team or government is absolutely ridiculous. To me they’re massive accusations to level at a person, to entirely call in to question their personal and professional integrity. These are the kind of accusations that if media or a celebrity made without evidence would get them sued for libel. But here people spout them as if it’s a proven fact.
You can’t hide behind the “subjective” rules all the time. The decisions can definitely be made more consistent.
Also, referees could help themselves with the subjective argument by simply making some niche things not subjective. Hit out at another player? Regardless of whether it was a “forearm” (Bruno G) or “petulance” (Romero) you just get sent off. Also, after hearing the VAR comms yesterday it seems like one person takes charge and no conversation happens. For instance the foul on Gabriel was instantly dismissed by 1 person who looked from two very distanced angles and not challenge by the other 2 deciding with him. A quick discussion amongst 3 people (as in Rugby) might lead to more accurate choices.