Replay continues to vex Whitecaps
Definition of ‘clear and obvious’ is where human error component comes in
It was supposed to be a lifeline for beleaguered officials, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) just seems to have given referees more rope to hang themselves with.
VAR was designed to help eliminate mistakes in the big moments — think Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” in 1986 or Geoff Hurst’s wasit-or-not goal against West Germany 20 years before — but a year into the process, Major League Soccer players and fans are frustrated by the system’s inherent inconsistency.
VAR’s main mandate is to review key moments of games, and is only used to correct “clear and obvious mistakes” involved in showing or rescinding red cards, confirming goals or awarding/denying penalties.
Whitecaps fans have had their fill of VAR this season; in the Caps’ third game, captain Kendall Waston was ejected against Atlanta FC, an infuriatingly inconsistent decision later overturned by an independent panel.
Referee Ismail Elfath — whose history with the Whitecaps is checkered — took nearly 10 minutes to overturn a call he hadn’t made himself during the run of play. Both the length of time it took, and the video evidence he based the decision on — later shown to be incorrect, and far from the “clear and obvious” directive — flew in the face of what VAR was meant for.
Last week in Kansas City, both Yordy Reyna and Efraín Juárez were sent off after VAR replays showed their roles in a shoving match violated league rules — violent conduct for Reyna and abusive language for Juárez, though he did push Sporting’s Johnny Russell in the face. Both calls are in line with league rules, albeit Russell’s two-handed shove of Waston only merited a yellow.
Howard Webb, GM of the Professional Referee Organization, which manages officials in all North American leagues including MLS, developed the VAR protocols which all of the participating leagues adhere to. He oversaw VAR’s introduction and implementation into MLS last year.
“Obviously, we’re dealing with human beings. Of all the things we’ve worked on, establishing the
threshold for ‘clear and obvious’ is the thing we’ve worked on the most,” said Webb, who is fine-tuning the model in six other leagues around the world ahead of this summer’s World Cup, where VAR will be used for the first time.
“The protocol, fundamentally, has remained the same. It was recognized quite early that this was meant to be a tool that enhanced the ability of the official to avoid clear errors.
“It wasn’t something that was supposed to referee the game. It was meant to have minimal interference for maximum benefit.”
The system does work. Webb said there were 36 corrected errors made last year. An ESPN story pointed to 46 VAR reviews made in 137 regular-season games, with 37 overturned decisions.
The inconsistency in the system stems from the differing standards
of what is clear and obvious; it varies from official to official. And while VAR excels for the factual calls — offsides, whether a ball is across a touch or goal-line — the judgment calls are the ones that have been so controversial.
“Sometimes there will be a situation where you look at a call, and you think ‘I can make the case either way.’ I could make a case for a penalty, and I could make a case not for a penalty. That’s the challenge,” said Webb.
“Those are the situations that VAR
will not resolve. I think it’s accepted and understood that that’s really not what VAR is there for. It’s there to try to capture those big situations that are clearly wrong.
“We’ve narrowed the gap in terms of consistency of interpretation … but the margin is there that we continue to work to.”
The Whitecaps aren’t alone in their VAR misery. Take the Montreal Impact, who have lost three straight games, getting outscored 12-4 over that span. In two of those losses, they were down to 10 men before halftime on calls that left players vexed and confused.
“Realistically, you want to stay out of the game being in the ref ’s hands,” Impact defender Daniel Lovitz told Postmedia’s Stu Cowan.
“You want to do as little as you possibly can to leave that for their interpretation. We have to do a better
job in that sense. But the truth is, you look across the league at the calls that are made … and one game there will be one that’s called a red card in our game and then there’s a much worse foul that is let play in another game a few hours after. So that part’s frustrating, for sure.”
VAR will get its first true test in Russia this summer.
Former World Cup official Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s head of refereeing, welcomes it.
“To understand what a referee’s life is like, just try doing it once,” he told Reuters. “Try it, just to see what it means to make a big mistake and be killed by the media the next day.
“I know how many hours I was looking up at the ceiling and I couldn’t sleep because of my mistake ... and I know that only one decision can change your life.”