Football News: Another Take On VAR

I have seen on various threads ideas about whether the issues this weekend were simple mistakes right through to targeted corruption. I believe it was somewhere on the broad stretch between. Either way, these weekly occurrences simply can not be allowed to keep happening.

The thing is, there are no repercussions. There is no dumpster fire. You've got people like Neville saying the statement from Liverpool was wrong, but that statement is just about the only thing I have seen that does anything other than saying, "grrr, nevermind".

Every week on MOTD, the same words get used to describe not just officiating, but VAR officiating. I am all for VAR and it could be great, but the way it is implemented is all wrong. From the wording,"clear and obvious", which is bandied around like it makes sense in subjective decision making, to the way decisions are reviewed themselves with super slow, split second perspectives without showing any broader context, to the way we know the siege mentality means they will not readily change decisions because it undermines the quality of officiating if multiple decisions get overturned each game. The whole system sucks.

As with everything we have these days, the deference to third party organisations to oversee or run things just muddies waters and adds more layers of politics to the governance of things. The PGMOL is only going to be self serving and is not going to admit lack of desire to change fundamental systems, even if they are not fit for purpose, because that shows they don't know what they are doing.

That, for me, is where the corruption lies. The layers of covering up for each other, for no consequences for egregious title/relegation, changing errors, or the ability to change the rules to save referees. All VAR has done is make referees more visible and enable them to cover for their mates more easily.

The PGMOL should not be able to decide the rules, nor decide how the rules are implemented. Because the Premier League is the only league in England to use VAR, the Premier League should set the rules for how it is used. It needs to be implemented so that all 20 clubs are happy and so that no conflicts of interests occur with appointments of referees. If heinous errors are made, a Premier League panel is responsible for dealing with repercussions and ensuring that referees are held to suitable standards. I don't believe it should be to chastise them at every juncture, however.

If we stop revering referees as these robots with super vision and computational abilities and taking their split second reactions as the basis for all decisions, then they will be able to relax more and be used for what their purpose is; a tool to enable the game to run smoothly. When breaks of play occur after a flash point, then conduct a review. Ask the ref to indicate that a review needs to happen, not that a decision has been made.

Easy for fouls when the whistle gets blown, not so much for penalties or handballs, but if everyone knows checks are happening in the background and will be significantly reviewed in breaks of play after an indication from the ref or an interjection from VAR then the game can still flow. The point is not to stop the game for every decision, but to bring play back if necessary.

There are a whole raft of ideas for how VAR should be used, but the point is that the players and clubs are affected the most, so they should be the ones who get to decide how it is implemented. I think it is fine to have the PGMOL provide a stable of officials to referee matches, but to enable them to keep covering for themselves will continue to affect "sporting integrity", as Liverpool put it.

As for how change is made, the clubs and the fans need to take a stand - together. It is clear that one set of fans complaining, i.e. the Liverpool ones in particular this week, will achieve nothing other than saying we are sore losers from all around. Next week it will be someone else though, so we all need to get together and do something. Groups seem to have no issue with protests against owners etc., but a mass protest against a corrupt, self serving organisation would prove a much more worthwhile exercise.

Likewise, a single club making complaints achieves nothing and while you could understand Tottenham not joining in this week, next time it'll be them who is affected. En masse, the clubs really do have the power to affect change. The PGMOL are not above everyone in terms of accountability. They have just somehow convinced everyone that they are unaccountable it seems. Allowing officials to simply officiate and not govern really could give them a new lease of life.

Written by Quo Vadis October 02 2023 15:09:49