VAR is broken. The furore at Motherwell, Tottenham and West Ham proved it

[Camden Blade]

VAR is broken. The furore at Motherwell, Tottenham and West Ham proved it

'The essential flow and emotions of football', something IFAB wanted to safeguard, have been ripped to pieces by VAR

www.nytimes.com

Sharing this Gift article from NYT/Athletic. They can add Blades playoff final to the list of infamy.

 

[calcalcal]

Var is a mess because the people who use it are useless
It can be made better so easily
Give 30 seconds max plus a countdown clock
If its not CLEAR and no decision made in 30 sec
On field decision stands

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Var is working exactly like I expected.

In that it isn't.

 

[The Fox]

The video just shows whats happened , the VAR officials interpret that and as the referee to review .

I dont remember a ref not changing his decision when asked to review although he is officially the final arbitor. That bits just turned into a performance for the spectators.

I dont have a problem with having a correct decision at all , the ones highlighted however show a foul by West ham , a foul by spurs and a highly debatable handball .

I have some sympathy the VAR guys as they have to apply the rule on handball when its very subjective , in which case change the rule .

Ultimately it will sometimes be down to interpretation but in the main they decision is correct and a few dodgy ones .

The biggest problem with it is waiting for so many goals waiting to be reassessed which completely spoils the spectacle and the game for everyone .

We cant have it all ways though , on balance I'd rather suffer a few wrong on field decisions than what the PL has now.

 

[103SecondsOfMagic]

Var is a mess because the people who use it are useless
It can be made better so easily
Give 30 seconds max plus a countdown clock
If its not CLEAR and no decision made in 30 sec
On field decision stands

This point of view is addressed in the article-

'The issue is, and has always been, the technology itself. As soon as you introduce omniscient slow-mo, you are transforming what refereeing is. And as soon as you demand that the officials judge every little collision, every little event on the pitch under slow-mo, the rules can clearly no longer cope.'

Can't say I disagree tbf.

 

[Frank the tank]

Var is to football what footlong bacon and peanut butter sandwiches were to elvis

 

[KiwiBlabe]

It feels to me that these decisions are being made to fuel debate and keep folk talking about football. I know it sounds far fetched, but modern football is rubbish, haha

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Var is a mess because the people who use it are useless
It can be made better so easily
Give 30 seconds max plus a countdown clock
If its not CLEAR and no decision made in 30 sec
On field decision stands

Biggest myth in football - "It's not VAR it's the people using it"

It's the concept of VAR that's the issue. It adds nothing to the game, but sucks the life out of it.

 

[Bladeloyal]

Why don't clubs vote it down

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Why don't clubs vote it down

Scared. People running clubs aren't football people like the fans. They want what the premier league tell them they want.

I'd love it if clubs polled their season ticket holders and voted on the basis of that result.

 

[The Fox]

Biggest myth in football - "It's not VAR it's the people using it"

It's the concept of VAR that's the issue. It adds nothing to the game, but sucks the life out of it.

VAR is the people using it.

Otherwise it would be called V .

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

VAR is the people using it.

Otherwise it would be called V .

We don't need the V or the AR. Thats the point. Get rid of technology and the people sat in porta-cabins.

 

[North Riding Blade]

Biggest myth in football - "It's not VAR it's the people using it"

It's the concept of VAR that's the issue. It adds nothing to the game, but sucks the life out of it.

My opinion exactly.
VAR isn't broken, it never worked in the first place.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

VAR is the people using it.

Otherwise it would be called V .

But then we would need a complete rewrite of our chant!

 

[ChongWithWaves]

I stand with Harry Maguire’s suggestion of technology being only used for Offsides and Goal Line technology. VAR basically takes away a referee’s authority in a game as they know they can make a decision and then have it changed if they make an error

 

[I should coco]

What knobs me off, is that referees have been able to steal our game.
They now perform forensic analysis using tools not up to the job, and not giving a shit how long it takes.
It's all about the 'decision' and the fans can just fuck off.

 

[calcalcal]

Biggest myth in football - "It's not VAR it's the people using it"

It's the concept of VAR that's the issue. It adds nothing to the game, but sucks the life out of it.

Every other sport copes
Admittedly some are played slower. Rugby league isnt a slow game. But it has video reviews and it works fairly well
They also come to the right decision consistently

The people who use var and their silly overly complicated (and getting worse) rules are the problem

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Every other sport copes
Admittedly some are played slower. Rugby league isnt a slow game. But it has video reviews and it works fairly well
They also come to the right decision consistently

The people who use var and their silly overly complicated (and getting worse) rules are the problem

Rugby league and union have natural breaks in play where no advantages are gained or lost.

Football has far more subjective rules/decisions to make.

VAR doesn't suit football.

 

[The Fox]

My opinion exactly.
VAR isn't broken, it never worked in the first place.

I agree to an extent .

I'd make the following changes ignoring anything that is subjective

Offside

- Keep for off side as long as its clear daylight.

- Scrap the offside " interference with keeper" etc

Penalties

- Keep for if a foul is inside or outside the box

- Scrap for all others inc hand ball , if the ref gives a pen its a pen.

-Fouls

- Scrap for all red card reviews or upgrades from yellow

Others .

- If its a goal ( and not daylight offside) its a goal , no reviews of fouls in the build up

- Mistaken identity ( introduce / keep).

- Goal line tech ( although not VAR) Keep

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

What knobs me off, is that referees have been able to steal our game.
They now perform forensic analysis using tools not up to the job, and not giving a shit how long it takes.
It's all about the 'decision' and the fans can just fuck off.

I don't blame the refs myself. They have had a difficult job made harder and far more complicated by var.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

I agree to an extent .

I'd make the following changes ignoring anything that is subjective

Offside

- Keep for off side as long as its clear daylight.

- Scrap the offside " interference with keeper" etc

Penalties

- Keep for if a foul is inside or outside the box

- Scrap for all others inc hand ball , if the ref gives a pen its a pen.

-Fouls

- Scrap for all red card reviews or upgrades from yellow

Others .

- If its a goal ( and not daylight offside) its a goal , no reviews of fouls in the build up

- Mistaken identity ( introduce / keep).

- Goal line tech ( although not VAR) Keep

Can you explain what the 'clear daylight' rule would resolve or help with? Surely it's just moving where the line is drawn from one point to another. Don't get it.

 

[bornablade]

What sucks the life out of football is the so called experts (Carragher, Neville, Shearer, Murphy - none of whom have ever successfully coached a football team) having the advantage of watching every single piece of action from every angle and declare 'the ref's got it wrong there'.

Refs were being hung, drawn and quartered.

VAR has been introduced to give refs a level playing field,

TNT (or whatever it calls itself) and Sky are the creators of the problem.

(and now their experts pontificate about the future of VAR - Unbelievable Jeff)

 

[The Fox]

Can you explain what the 'clear daylight' rule would resolve or help with? Surely it's just moving where the line is drawn from one point to another. Don't get it.

Its simply saying that if the whole players body is goal side ( off side) then its off side and not if its just a toenail.

On that case of daylight , the player is seeking to gain advantage which is what the law is for , if its a toenail they're clearly not.

The trial is currently ongoing in Canada .

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Its simply saying that if the whole players body is goal side ( off side) then its off side and not if its just a toenail.

On that case of daylight , the player is seeking to gain advantage which is what the law is for , if its a toenail they're clearly not.

The trial is currently ongoing in Canada .

This is the trouble, this is what our once brilliant game has been reduced to.

Why not let linesman be linesman again. They were pretty good at it without var (96%+ accuracy).

Var isn't worth the 4% (presuming they actually draw lines right and accurately capture the forward pass...).

 

[The Fox]

This is the trouble, this is what our once brilliant game has been reduced to.

Why not let linesman be linesman again. They were pretty good at it without var (96%+ accuracy).

Var isn't worth the 4% (presuming they actually draw lines right and accurately capture the forward pass...).

Off side prior to var is estimated to be 82% , its now 96% .

You could say on that basis outside the top flight 14% of offsides are incorrect .

I'd live with that in the tbh outside the top flight.

VAR in the topflight is here to stay , I can accept that , only if it was used sparingly for line calls and clear offsides etc .

Just needs to strike a balance with fairness and the spectacle of watching a match.

 

[Toto]

Nowts really changed, before it was the refs fault now its vars fault for advising the ref who got it wrong in vars opinion then it is analysed by tv and us and we still don't know. Cut and dry offsides, penalties, handballs need penalising others need the refs decision for me and i'll be happy with that......maybe!

 

[YES Blade]

Rugby league and union have natural breaks in play where no advantages are gained or lost.

Football has far more subjective rules/decisions to make.

VAR doesn't suit football.

Can you name a sport where video replays have been introduced then scrapped because it didn’t work? I can’t, so I honestly can not understand how it shouldn’t be able work in football.

Other sports seemed to embrace technology decades before football, so it’s no wonder they use it better, they’ve had much longer to perfect its use.

 

[Revolution]

Can you name a sport where video replays have been introduced then scrapped because it didn’t work? I can’t, so I honestly can not understand how it shouldn’t be able work in football.

Other sports seemed to embrace technology decades before football, so it’s no wonder they use it better, they’ve had much longer to perfect its use.

The NFL had it between 1986 and 1991, then scrapped it. They had no replay between 1992 and 1998, and brought it back in 1999 and its been there ever since.

It has had clear benefits for cricket and for tennis.

Its use in Rugby Union just seems to have increased the already huge amount of standing around not doing anything.

Goalline technology is an excellent idea. That should be retained. I would get rid of everything else.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Can you name a sport where video replays have been introduced then scrapped because it didn’t work? I can’t, so I honestly can not understand how it shouldn’t be able work in football.

Other sports seemed to embrace technology decades before football, so it’s no wonder they use it better, they’ve had much longer to perfect its use.

It shouldn't be an evolutionary thing for football though. Surely it's just a case of finding the best example and doing that?

If you wanted to improve mobile phones today you wouldn’t pick up the first ever Nokia and say "now how can we upgrade this?" when there’s already an IPhone or Samsung available.