That’s all.
VAR isn’t.
The referees decision making after using it is.
Nah, VAR is the problem. It has created the situation where referees decisions are not final. It’s allowed doubt to influence them when they review the decisions they made. Football is worse with VAR than it was without.
It’s a nuanced issue. Because before VAR, the quality of the first impression calls were altering entire seasons. Entire tournaments. Now, the rules are followed to a T. Which absolutely alters the game in a different way, but now it’s not about one asshole’s probably obstructed or misjudged view in the moment. We all get to see exactly what needs to be called, and it gets called. So that means you’re getting PKs for what was ultimately a dive, but there actually was a grazing contact. We need to change the rules to adapt.
We need to give the officials more discretion over carding for diving. So ultimately: that graze didn’t impede your movement and you felt the light touch and dove. Yellow card.
We need to say that contact isn’t the determining factor, but obstructive contact. If that glancing touch clipped your trailing foot and you ultimately lost balance because of it, yes that’s a foul. Because with slow motion and human reaction time, it’s so clear when that touch was embellished and you decided to go down. But the officials are basically looking past the dive to see if even the slightest contact was made. The rules need to be updated. Kill two birds: eliminate problematic diving and make the game more honest.
We’d need way more VAR officials per game and the first official would lose some power, but it’d make way more sense seeing as how it wouldn’t just be one opinion changing things but a small team of professionals making the best call.
But this is just one man’s opinion. Yes it can be problematic and it’s changed things, but utilized properly it can change things for the better.
They just need to take inspiration from the TMO system in rugby. That works perfectly and is only used when the referees are not 100% on a decision, or when the TMO officials flag something up to the referee that they may have missed.
Obviously with rugby, there are a ton more rules and things aren’t as clear cut as in football, but even though that should theoretically make things more difficult, it’s the opposite at the moment.
Go watch gymnastics or equestrian if you wanna keep blaming the judge.
Excuse me? What the fuck does that even mean?
You complain about a system that removes randomness. Go watch sports that are entirely based on random judge decisions
Nah, I’ll keep watching the sport I’ve been watching for more than 3 decades thanks.
So you just want it to be less fair? Got it. Pointless post.
No. I want refs to get better. I want more training, and more punishment for refs who make egregious mistakes.
What I don’t want is a system which can analyse things to the nth degree, yet still gets it wrong. A system which interrupts play for minutes at a time. A system that can’t be applied at all levels of the game. A system that arbitrarily says some things can be checked, but others can’t - handball during a goal? No goal. Goal scored from a wrongly-given corner? Deal with it. A system which is causing material changes to the laws of the game, even for games where VAR is not present. A system which has significantly spoiled my enjoyment of live football.
You don’t have to agree with me, but my position is a valid one to take.
You should come to Sweden then.
I hate the fact that the swedish league is the only “professional” league that has no intention of implementing VAR. The only reason that they aren’t planning on implementing it is because of the supporters outrage. I really don’t get it, but then again I prefer hockey where all questionable goals are always checked. Also, the fact that the clock i stopped in hockey when the ref blows a whistle stops the diving and moaning that ruins the last 20 min of a football game.
The decision to leave the swedish league out of VAR will only hurt our referees that wont be eligable for international fixtures.
I actually have seen a match in Sweden back in 2007, when my team played BK Hacken in Goteborg. Lovely place (dreadful match!)
