No VAR in international friendlies? Clarke thinks that’s just not cricket
After the month we’ve just had, it felt almost nostalgic to hear Scotland boss Steve Clarke bemoaning the absence of VAR after Scotland’s defeat in Turkey.
The technology has had a rocky introduction in the Premiership, with its shortcomings highlighted by managers and television analysts alike.
Last Wednesday night, Clarke was more concerned about what it might have done in one specific case, namely pick up the match referee’s failure to spot a barge in the box on Lyndon Dykes and award his side a penalty.
His comments posed the general question as to why the official did not have technology helping him out.
Turkey is more than familiar with VAR, having used it for all Super League fixtures since the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
If it is good enough for a game involving two sides in the bottom half of a 19-team division, then why not for an international match, involving players under the control of some of the richest and most-powerful clubs in the world game?
The answer comes in two parts. First, the game was under the control of UEFA, and the European body do not insist on the use of VAR in friendlies.
Secondly, the ground where the game was played, the Diyarbakir Stadium, is used by two lower-league clubs so has had no necessity to have the technology in place.
This was the first international fixture the venue had hosted, and the friendly had actually been in doubt following trouble at recent domestic games.
As much as it is a positive thing for associations to move games around to allow a spread of football supporters the chance to catch their national teams live, a degree of standardisation would surely be sensible, with the use of VAR made mandatory at international level.
After all, minimal as it may be compared to competitive games, points are still awarded in friendlies that go towards each country’s FIFA ranking.
VAR is not going to go away. If anything, we are going to see more and more of it in years to come as the technology becomes ever more advanced, and costs fall.
A great example of this can be seen in cricket, with the MCC planning to roll out a “smart” ball next summer that will allow high technology to become the norm – even in village games.
The new ball will contain a microchip that relays information to the umpires via an app on their phones, similar to that used in the professional game.
It should advise if players have nicked the ball and been caught, or been leg before wicket.
Amusingly, it will also supply tracking details that can help locate ones that have been smashed clean out of the ground by any would-be Ben Stokes impersonators.
Given the progress made there, it is now not too outlandish to imagine a football version of the technology heading to the lower and Junior leagues in the not-so-distant future.
Footballs that can hook up with goalline technology already exist for use at the top level of the professional game.
To return to Turkey, it is worth noting their experience with VAR has made our own – so far – look tame in comparison.
Last year, Fenerbahce called for a national investigation into what they claimed was a referee pact to rig the technology against them to make sure they did not win the title.
The Istanbul giants wanted one particular operator, who they said they had evidence against, sanctioned.
It did not happen and, when the dust had settled, they finished third behind city rivals Besiktas and Galatasaray.
Scotland has it is own acid test to come with the first Old Firm derby to be played using the technology coming up on January 2.
New Year, a time when traditionally we try to put the past behind us and look ahead with optimism to new beginnings.
Or, as will almost certainly be the case for an army of obsessives in this instance, to re-watch and re-analyse on an endless loop.
Before all that, though, we have the small matter of the World Cup Finals.
Enjoy.