DON’T BLAME VAR... IT’S THE REFS WHO NEED TO RAISE THEIR GAME
THERE was a simple reason VAR worked well at Euro 2020 – the referees were good.
Highly competent on-field officials reduce VAR to what it should be – a back-up system that prevents unusually obvious miscarriages of justice.
Anthony Taylor (below) and Michael Oliver proved themselves to be highly competent with their performances at the Euros, but there is not enough quality in depth in the UK’s refereeing ranks.
And when you have to also man the monitors at Stockley Park, quality in depth is what you desperately need.
VAR is not at fault for the anomalies that routinely occur in Premier League matches – referees are.
Whether they are on the pitch or in a TV room. When Mike Riley spoke to the media last week, it was billed as a discussion about prospective changes in the use of VAR for the upcoming Premier League season.
But really, that was only half-true. If that.
Riley implied that players who went down under only the slightest contact would not win penalties. But that has nothing to do with VAR, that is down to a referee’s expert judgement and is how it should have always been in football.
Riley also suggested referees will be instructed to give penalties if a player is fouled, but stays on his feet.
Again, that is not a VAR thing, that is a simple refereeing principle that is surely age-old?
The other area in which Riley suggested there would be change is offside.
“On marginal offsides, we have effectively
reintroduced the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player,” said Riley, the managing director of Professional Game Match Officials Ltd.
“The toenails and the noses of the players that might have been offside last season won’t be next season.”
Actually, what is effectively being done is a changing of the offside rule.
But few would have any objections to that.
And, as worked so well at Euro 2020, there will be no on-screen demonstration of how the VAR has arrived at an offside decision.
Thank goodness.
Let’s be honest, it was only the lines that wound people up so much during these past couple of seasons.
Players, managers and fans would all accept that marginal offsides are going to go for them and go against them – probably in equal measure over any decent period of time. For all the outrage over VAR, it is only a bad thing when it goes against YOUR team.
That is why you did not hear a peep against it from England fans this summer.
And, for all the outrage over VAR, the best team won the Premier League and the worst team finished bottom.
The introduction of VAR – its first season in the Premier League was 2019/20 – was a seismic change.
Such changes will take decades, rather than years, to bed in fully.
It will be a very long time before the system runs so smoothly that you hardly notice it or remark on it.
So, VAR is flawed, but it will get better.
Hopefully, we can say the same about the refereeing standards.
But do not hold your breath.