DON’T LET VIDEO REF KILL OFF ELECTRIC NIGHTS LIKE THIS
STAMFORD BRIDGE rocked. Fuelled by a seething sense of injustice, it rocked and Norwich City responded as they sensed their chance of a shock.
Wednesday’s FA Cup third- round replay stirred the emotions in a way only football can.
Compared with replays on the previous night, some played in front of thousands of empty seats, the atmosphere at Chelsea was electric. And the famous old competition enjoyed its shot in the arm.
Mistakes were made with the video referee and some things can be improved, not least finding a way to keep the stadium audience better informed.
And Chelsea manager Antonio Conte perhaps has a point about referee Graham Scott whipping out the yellow card too quickly to caution Willian.
No one would have blamed Scott for pausing to reflect with a finger to his earpiece for effect, although players would probably have spoiled the moment in a rush to offer advice or march him to his pitch-side monitor.
Even Conte appreciated the officials were in new territory. A clatter of boots and a tumbling striker and the referee must pause and listen as a colleague fumbles for r replays in a compound near r Heathrow Airport.
Maybe deference to a higher authority will help referees overcome accusations of arrogance but first they must unlearn the reflex of imposing authority with a swift and strong decision. They are learning a new language.
Goal-line technology has worked well and VAR will help with line calls such as the ‘offside’ goal at Leicester and end the embarrassment of mistaken identity. But some things it will not clear up.
Exactly how much contact is legitimate in a modern contact sport? Can video footage accurately measure force?
When is contact fair in a game where diving is rife, play-acting pathetic and where defenders prefer to grapple rather than tackle with their feet?
Referees know the rules but do not ‘feel’ the game. Ex-pros ‘feel’ it but that does not make their opinions infallible as they sit in judgment with their studio gadgets.
Football is in danger of being ‘pundited’ to death as it panders to an armchair audience and turns its back on ticketbuyers who actually go to the game.
Chelsea versus Norwich was a fabulous tie, transformed from a tense and cagey affair into breathless chaos, electrically charged by the emotion inside the Bridge. Norwich players wept in the dressing room having come so close while Chelsea went into the fourth round feeling the need to air some grievances.
Yes, Pedro dived and was correctly sent off and, fair enough, Alvaro Morata might have made the most of slight contact and yelled abuse in the referee’s face, but Willian was unfortunate.
That one, right, the one that was not cheating, that is the referee’s fault. Or the faceless ref-in-the-bunker’s fault. Or at least the system’s fault.
Or how about everyone stops trying to con the officials? This would be the quickest and easier route to a fair g game if that is the ideal. W Which it might not be. Wednesday’s mayhem e echoed the League Cup se semi-final in 2015 when Chelsea beat Liverpool on the night diego Costa tr trampled on people and w was later banned. S Some also recalled N Norwegian referee Tom He Henning Ovrebo rejecting al all of Chelsea’s penalty ap appeals until Barcelona were safely through to the Champions League final in 2009. Mistakes by officials add to the drama, as do mistakes by players and managers. But we should learn to embrace football’s imperfections, the shades of grey. They are important. Football must not sterilise these nights out of existence in the quest for a cleaner, more clinical product for the armchair fans to digest between mouthfuls of popcorn.