Video ref to play out season

THE video assistant referee has done what nothing or nobody else before it could do: unite the warring tribes of Australian soccer.

But despite growing opposition from players, coaches, supporters and pundits, it will remain in place at least until the end of the A-League season. It comes after the VAR was used a record number of times in an event-filled round eight – and while A-League chief Greg O’Rourke said all of the decisions it reached were correct, he admitted for the second time this season that the process involved in reaching them was far too “laborious.” O’Rourke understands the frustrations of those who want it scrapped immediately but said it was a case of the lesser of two evils.

“I don’t really want to judge the success or otherwise of this trial by one weekend,” O’Rourke said.

“We didn’t bring this in just because we thought it was an interesting thing to do.

“We brought this in to satisfy the need we were responding to. What we were getting last year was complaints that the referees were making mistakes, coaches were complaining that they weren’t winning games and were potentially going to lose their jobs because the referees didn’t have access to technology.

“Now we’ve brought it in and we’re dealing with another set of issues, which we’re trying to address.” The A-League is bound by the VAR protocol outlined by IFAB, the global body that determines and shapes the laws of the game.

The competition is taking part in a global trial for the technology, with a call to be made in March as to whether it will become permanent.

If so, it will be used at the 2018 World Cup and thereafter.

If not, it will be discontinued, but O’Rourke said would most likely still run to the end of the A-League season in that case.