WE’RE NOT READY TO GO TO VAR
GAA not yet convinced by system that has revolutionised soccer
IN the space of one Tuesday evening, the big sports story shifted from the signposted resignation of the entire FAI board to another round of compelling Champions League action. Anyone interested in sporting excellence – even the most ardent of Manchester United supporters – couldn’t fail to appreciate the enduring gift to the game that is Lionel Messi, making Phil Jones look like a wax-work dummy on wheels. The manner in which Barcelona put out the fires of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revolution brought to mind the dousing of Notre Dame, where a charred shell remained from what burned brightly and briefly.
And yet that ritual destruction, this time in a Spanish city, wasn’t even the biggest story of the night, or the quarter-final second legs. Over in Turin, Ajax were producing a very Dutch version of the beautiful game against Juventus, a testament to technical proficiency, fearlessness and expression.
Full value for the 2-1 lead that left the Italian giants needing a miracle going into the final 10 minutes, the evening seemed to come to a perfect harmony in Hakim Ziyech’s curled right-foot strike to the far corner, a stunning effort to send shockwaves across Europe.
Until the referee quelled the noise with one signal: VAR.
As the life was sucked out of the stadium, the players stood around waiting for the verdict to come in. No goal. Due to an offside in the build-up.
And yet that was nothing compared to VAR’s impact the following evening when Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling capped a mad-cap 90-plus minutes with an injury-time winner that sparked wild scenes of celebration.
Until the moment VAR ruled it out for offside, sending Tottenham Hotspur into the semi-finals.
If there was one incident that made the most telling case for the introduction of VAR to Gaelic games last summer, it was the ‘ghost goal’ awarded to Tipperary in the crucial Munster round robin game against Waterford when an umpire deemed that Austin Gleeson had stepped back over the line as he caught the ball under the crossbar late in the second half.
A compelling series of photographs seemed to prove the ball didn’t cross the line, the TV replays immediately backing up that version of the truth.
As the use of technology becomes ever more prevalent at the highest end of the professional game, right down to goal-line technology, Willie Barrett, chair of the national referees committee, explains that VAR is a long way off being introduced into Championship games.
‘I don’t see it happening for the foreseeable future in the Championship that we have. I’m well aware that it is in other codes like soccer but there are no plans to introduce VAR in the GAA – at present, anyway.’
VAR’s influence on Manchester City’s exit wasn’t lost on him.
‘Certainly, it changed a major decision, had a major bearing on the result of the game. Anything we do, we’d have to have it in all our stadia for all our Championship matches. We have four Championship hurling matches on the 12th of May and so on. So we’d have to
have VAR in every stadium locally that we play those games. To be honest, at the moment I don’t see it happening.’ What if the means and money and technology were made available, would he see the value of it? ‘I can see the benefit of it but I’d ask the question: how far back would one go before you’d make a decision on it? ‘We had the situation in the Waterford-Tipperary game where it had a bearing on the result.
6 The Hawk-Eye point-detection system was introduced in the GAA six years ago in 2013
‘That was huge. Anything that would help the referees would be beneficial, there is no doubt about that. But again, it’s a question of how far would one go back for a decision. If you have it for scores, you’d have to have it for red card infractions, and so on.
‘In rugby, you have the question whether a player was offside. So if you have a play 50 metres away where there is a foul, do you disallow it because of that?
‘Currently we have Hawk-Eye and I’d imagine that we’d have to do an awful lot of research into VAR before introducing it or any form of it. We’re not at that level yet.’
Before the start of the League, word went out of a clampdown on head-high challenges and thrown handpasses. Lo and behold, former hurler of the year Tony Kelly was sent off in contentious circumstances in the opening round against Tipperary, a decision that saw a resurgent Clare team fall away and end up well beaten.
Barrett is unequivocal: ‘It may have had a bearing on the game, certainly, but if another player has the ball in his hand, I cannot understand why there needs to be a challenge on his head. It’s up to the player making the tackle to make sure it’s not in any way dangerous or reckless.
‘Looking ahead to the Championship in a few weeks’ time, we’d certainly be looking at any challenges to the head, in hurling and football. We’d be looking for a red card, all of the time. We’ve seen a few in the League where red cards have been issued and we want to continue strongly on that.
‘We have to protect the player in every instance. Where there is a challenge to the head it can be very, very serious. Other sports are looking at it at the moment, concussion and that sort of thing. We feel it’s immediately a red card.
‘I don’t have any fear of diluting the game. There are certain things that cannot be tolerated.
‘The challenge to the head is one of them. I don’t think for one moment it will take the intensity out of the game at all. Because it is simply not allowed by rule. And is a danger to the player.
‘We will be instructing in the strongest possible way and reiterating for the Championship, our desire, in ensuring these challenges to the head, both in hurling and football, are eradicated from our game.’