SOL REF: VAR GETTING ON OUR NERVES

VAR is undermining the confidence of referees and ruining football.

That’s the view of Urs Meier, the former Swiss referee (above) who disallowed a last-minute goal by Sol Campbell for England against Portugal in the quarter-final of Euro 2004.

Had VAR been available then it’s likely the goal would have stood, sparing Meier the outpouring of anger from English fans.

But after campaigning for years for the introduction of goalline technology, Meier believes that the current system has gone too far and that referees are being punished as a result.

“It’s like being a tightrope-walker in a circus – if you have no safety net then you are more concentrated,” he said.

“It’s the same in football. If you give a penalty then you know it could be overturned by VAR if it’s the wrong decision.

“It’s a safety net that referees don’t need.

“For years I would tell Sepp Blatter we needed goalline technology – we didn’t want another Wembley goal (in 1966) or another goal like the disallowed one scored by England against Germany in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“The first part of VAR – goal or no goal – is working. That is a black-andwhite decision.

“Then we have offside or not offside, which also black and white, more or less. In this case it works not so bad, but not 100 per cent.

“Then we have other decisions – penalty decisions, handball or not handball, red card or not.

“Foul play and handballs often aren’t black and white, they’re grey.

“You need to know the intention and you don’t see that in a TV replay.

“You feel the intention on the field of play, you can read the players, you can see what has happened.

“We have to go back to where we were – we have to make referees strong again. At the moment their body language tells you that’s not how they feel.”