Video ref’s ultimate test

Officials assure no repeat of ‘tragic’ A-League failure in Russia

VIDEO referee experts are confident the maligned system will stand up on the grandest stage, amid fears that a car crash may unfold at the World Cup finals in Russia.

Back-up systems have been installed for the World Cup after a FIFA investigation into the A-League grand final fiasco when the Hawkeye technology froze, leaving officials unable to review Melbourne Victory’s winning goal, which appeared offside.

With many referee-Video Assistant Referee combinations working together for the first time in Russia, concerns have been raised about the swiftness of decisions. The 13 VAR officials, from 10 nations, have joined the 36 World Cup referees and 63 assistants in Moscow for their final preparatory seminar, including intensive VAR training.

The international rules committee, the International Football Association Board, is not directly involved with the World Cup, but has run the two-year VAR experiment.

IFAB secretary Lukas Brud said poor knowledge of the rules was an issue, but such unfortunate incidents as the ALeague grand final had been rectified.

“The referees very often take the right decision with the VAR. The problem is that many people don’t understand that decision because they do not know specifically the laws of the game,’’ Brud said.

“Which is why FIFA is putting in place a messaging system in the stadiums so you can see on the big screen what has happened and what VAR has helped the referee with.

“I’m not saying the systems are flawless. But I’m personally not too concerned. There will be debate, we have to be ready for it. I believe FIFA will communicate it — when you explain an incident people are normally satisfied.

“The Australian situation, because of the importance of the match, was probably the most tragic one in a way, the most influential error that happened in the VAR process.

“It was a unique case — we haven’t had that before, anywhere in 1500 matches. This incident triggered some investigation within FIFA for the [World Cup] tournament, because they’re using the same provider [Hawkeye], to try and find a countermeasure.”

A-League VAR panel member Strebre Delovski was confident the system would work, citing Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” goal or Thierry Henry’s blatant 2010 handball as the kind of incidents they wanted overturned.

“I’m sure they’ve learnt from [the A-League incident]. They have put back-up steps in place if the technology fails,’’ Delovski said.