Referees will make VAR incidents clearer to fans in Cup replays

Referees could be instructed to signal more clearly when consulting their video assistants following crowd confusion on the English competitive debut of Video Assistant Referees.

The general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, Mike Riley, revealed changes were planned to the use of VAR ahead of its next outing in two FA Cup thirdround replays next week.

This week’s two games to employ VAR saw the referee employ a “finger to ear” signal when communicating with his video assistant. But Riley accepted it had not been obvious to spectators that checks were being made when goals were scored or after penalty decisions.

There was particular confusion about whether Brighton and Hove Albion’s winning goal in Monday’s FA Cup win over Crystal Palace had been checked for handball.

Riley told BBC Radio Five Live: “It is really important for spectators in the stadium to understand when it’s being used or not. Part of the process we’re going through at the moment is how we can do that really effectively. Currently, if you look at the referee, you’ll see him put his finger in his ear. But I accept that, in a stadium, that can be quite difficult to see. So, how can we improve that experience for the spectators? We’re talking around that, reviewing both games this week and coming up with some ideas for next week to make that more effective.”

The same issue was identified during the summer’s Confederations Cup, with officials subsequently instructed to mime a television screen whenever checks were being made, not just when VAR had been used to change a decision.

The VAR matches next week will be Chelsea v Norwich City and Leicester City v Fleetwood Town.

Among the fourth-round FA Cup ties to use VAR, meanwhile, will almost certainly be Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion after it was the only match selected for live broadcast guaranteed to be at a Premier League ground. The game will be on BT Sport 2 on Saturday, Jan 27. If Chelsea beat Norwich, their tie with Newcastle United – also on BT Sport 2 – could be another VAR game the following afternoon.

Manchester United will return to TV screens in the FA Cup when the BBC shows their trip to Yeovil Town on Friday, Jan 26. As exclusively revealed by The Daily Telegraph, their third-round win over Derby County was their first Cup tie not to be shown live for 13 years.

‘It is important that fans in the stadium understand when it is being used or not’

Oliver Brown, page 7