MLS boss a ‘big believer’ in video review system

TORONTO—The Vancouver Whitecaps might not have departed Century Link Field with a win Saturday had impending video replay rules been in effect.

During an exclusive chat with Postmedia last week, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber seemed intent on implementing a video review system to help the league’s embattled referees.

“I’m a big believer in instant replay and that technology in professional sports,” Garber said.

It’s unclear which plays would be reviewable at this point.

“As the world evolves, as players evolve, as society evolves, as technology evolves,” Garber continued, “to think that a fan has greater access to (replay than our referees) … just seems illogical to me.”

Opponents of replay claim the game will lose its fluidity. They argue the subjective nature of soccer officiating is an insurmountable problem.

Additionally, replay skeptics argue that subjective calls — like holding (NFL), fouls (NBA) and various other penalties — aren’t reviewable in sports that encourage referees to use the technology.

Proponents, meanwhile, insist that in no other sport does a blown subjective call consistently have such an immense impact. For instance, how often does a holding call in the CFL determine the outcome of a game?

In soccer, a decision in the penalty area can be the difference — as it was twice Saturday in Seattle during Vancouver’s 2-1 win — in such a lowscoring sport.

“When I watch a tennis match or an American football game or a basketball game or even a baseball game, I think the games are better,” Garber added.

“Officials are there not as a constituency, but to determine whether the rules are followed. If they can be aided with technology, as they are with communication, that’s fantastic.

“That’s a very broad statement. That’s my view about sport in general. Soccer’s a different game. There’s very little break in action. The beauty of the game is its flow. Anything done with instant replay needs to take into consideration, as a basic principle, how to make the game better.”

The Whitecaps were awarded two controversial penalty kicks in their 2-1 win in Seattle.

Christian Bolanos won a first-half penalty after being tripped up in the area before Blas Perez was brought down late in the proceedings.

Both plays could be reviewable in the future, depending how MLS implements the proposed video review system.

The league announced last week it’s testing in-game video repay at this year’s Generation Adidas Cup, a youth tournament attended by MLS academies.