Screen time will be welcome pressure release for whistlers
LAST November, John Beaton was compelled to show a red card in the opening seconds of a World Cup qualifier. The referee was convinced by what his eyes saw as Andorran forward Ricard Fernandez threw an elbow into the face of opposing defender Kamil Glik.
Yet without the instant affirmation of VAR, he’d have spent the rest of the game harbouring the niggling thought that perhaps he’d made a game-changing error.
That, in a nutshell, is why the vast majority — if not all — of Scotland’s Grade One referees are in favour of the new technology that will debut in Hibs’ Premiership visit of St Johnstone on Friday night.
‘It will bring a reassurance and my experience with it in European games is good,’ says Beaton. ‘I had a game between Andorra and Poland and sent off a player after 13 seconds for violent conduct.
‘You can imagine how I would have felt for 89 minutes thinking: “Did I get it right?” if we didn’t have VAR. But we did and it was checked and I knew I could relax and focus on the rest of the game.
‘In big games in this country, it will be a massive reassurance to know when we make a big call it will be right.’
The Scottish FA have adopted a slogan of ‘minimum interference, maximum benefit’ as their guiding principle for the technology’s introduction.
Unfortunately the association’s chief executive
Ian Maxwell went rogue in an interview where he predicted the opening weeks were bound to be ‘horrendous’ due to inevitable teething problems.
That’s not how the officials see it, as referee chief Crawford Allan was at pains to point out during an extensive media briefing on Thursday.
A member of FIFA’s international roster for 10 years, Beaton contends that he is beyond the point where he feels too much pressure going into even the biggest of matches.
That’s not to say circumstances don’t intervene. Faced with 22 pumped-up athletes, determined to press home any advantage they can eke from a game, the referee’s job is to deploy a cold and analytical process to each and every on-field incident.
Yet some decisions carry more weight than others.
Picture the following scene: the final Old Firm derby of the season rolls round in April and the teams are level on points and indeed score.
In the 90th minute, Celtic fire a cross into the Rangers box, where the ball strikes a home defender on the arm. Despite the appeal of the Celtic players, referee Beaton deems the contact not to be a handball offence.
Then a voice in his ear intervenes and tells him to make his way to the pitch-side monitor to review the decision in front of a baying home crowd.
A nightmare scenario? Not at all, as he explains: ‘It feels like that will be much less stressful than the game itself. Going across to the screen and speaking to the VAR, you know you are looking at it as there is a chance you have made an error.
‘When it’s the 89th minute and you have a split second to blow the whistle. That’s the wow moment and you think to yourself: “I hope I have that right”.
‘We need to get away from the negative connotation of going to the screen. The pressure of looking at the screen will never be the same as the pressure on the park and not knowing whether you have it right. Or the split-second decision when you have to think on your feet.
‘I don’t really get nervous before big games these days, I have so much experience, I get excited by them.
‘You want to get big decisions right, but the likes of myself, Willie Collum and Nick Walsh want these big matches.
‘A wee bit of nervous excitement which is a good thing.’
VAR won’t be perfect. While it’s designed to limit human error, it cannot remove the subjectivity around certain decisions that will be reviewed and replayed in slow motion at the SFA’s remote hub in the east end of Glasgow.
Referees, too, will need to train their own minds on those occasions where they are advised to approach the monitor.
‘We need to be open-minded when looking at the screen,’ continued Beaton. ‘You can get attached to a decision but you have to go to the screen and look at it fresh. What you saw on the park might not be the reality.
‘There is pressure on everything and we need to be strong in the big games in this country.
‘There will be times the screen will be right by the fans and there won’t be many hiding places. It will be intense but that’s part of being a referee.’
Another consequence of the VAR roll-out is that it will require the likes of Beaton, Collum and Walsh to rotate between outdoor and indoor duties.
The man on the pitch may remain the public face of decision-making but, in the moment, the pressure will actually transfer to the individual armed with multi-screen evidence of what has happened.
‘I think it is important we use the top referees,’ added Beaton. ‘When the first big, pivotal match comes along, being in the VAR room will be as important as being the referee.
‘I won’t see being VAR as a demotion, it is an important job.
‘I don’t think it will undermine us. If VAR thinks I need to look at something, they will tell me. If not, it is my decision. I will still be in charge of the game but if I make a mistake someone has to tell me.
‘I don’t see it as a loss of power — I see it as more power and I am looking forward to it.
‘It is such a safety net and when you hear “check complete”, it is brilliant to hear after a big decision.
‘I was in charge at Red Star Belgrade and I gave a penalty against Braga and they weren’t
convinced.
‘They checked it and said I was correct. Straight away, that is the incident over and no one can really complain.
‘It takes away the feeling on the park where you aren’t sure you are right, which is human nature.’
And yet Scottish football won’t stop running on its daily diet of hysteria on account of a few well-placed cameras.
There will be a minimum of six television views for officials to review but that’s half the standard number in England.
‘I don’t think it will take away the debates on decisions that are contentious,’ adds Beaton.
‘Sometimes there is no right and wrong. If it is your team and it goes against you, you will never be convinced the decision was right.
‘What it will do is remove black and white errors, which is great for us. Offside, for example — it takes away the debate.’
Beaton also hopes the extra layer of adjudication will positively affect how players interact with officials on the pitch. And he believes the gradual exposure to the system via television and European games will have prepared Scotland’s footballers for the new dimension to match day.
‘We are fortunate to be starting a few years in,’ he added.
‘When it first came to England everyone wondered what was happening.
‘It’s not like that now, it won’t be the big bang it has been in other countries.
‘A few of our clubs have used it in European games already, as have Scotland. It will be a change and it will be massive on the players as they can’t argue in the same way.
‘In Europe, I’ve found that it calms players down as you can tell them it is being checked.
‘And when it has been checked it would be silly to continue to moan about it...’
I don’t see it as a loss of power — I see it as more power. It is exciting