02 Dec 2020 19:45:11
I am hearing VAR is the problem in our game but I think its not just VAR its the refs and people looking at these things example 30 after the game they issued a statement saying they looked at the penalty and decided it wasnt a penalty so does that prove its not VAR its the corrupt people giving the final say?
02 Dec 2020 20:17:40
Probably Walkies.
03 Dec 2020 00:31:47
Apologies for going off on a slight tangent here but I think when you take a step back and look at the modern game, VAR is nowhere near the top issue with football but it consumes way too much of the air time.
For many years now there has a been a developing cultural problem that has allowed consistent and deep-rooted cheating to happen in almost every game. We've become desensitised to ever increasing levels of play acting, 'gamesmanship' etc. Its ridiculous that such extreme levels of cheating and unsporting behaviour are tolerated but we fixate on a VAR system that, although frustrating at times, is right 99% of the time and acts in good faith. Its not perfect, and if there's a consensus to scrap it then fair enough. But we'll all moan again the first time we lose a match to a goal that could've been proven to be offside but not given. VAR is frustrating yes, but its a loosely related symptom of a much deeper set of issues, namely the cultural problem mentioned above and the shambolic governance structure around football that is not fit for purpose.
03 Dec 2020 09:29:32
With VAR if it's a very close call and a decision could go either way why don't they have something similar to umpires call in cricket where the really tight lbw decisions remain with the original on field decision.
03 Dec 2020 10:31:38
DBS, cheating is absolutely a massive problem and I despise it. VAR does nothing to remove that though since they still give penalties (for example) for the smallest of touches whilst they watch their slow-motion replays. They certainly do not get it right 99% opf the time, and that's one of the main issues with it. I have complained about VAR since day 1, which if I remember correctly was the Women's World Cup a few years back. It was terrible then and it's terrible now. It removes the important free-flowing INSTANT nature of football. Football isn't about waiting around for 5 minutes to get a decision 2 or 3 times per match. Ahhh I remember the days when you could celebrate a goal as soon as it went in, but now you can't do that because you are always wondering if VAR will get involved. It's a disgrace and yes the referees using it ARE also the problem, but that IS VAR. The whole thing is a mess and should be scrapped but of course it won't be. Nobody cares about the fans or what the fans want. Also, no I don't pipe up about VAR when it goes against us, I moan about it when it goes FOR us incorrectly too. I just want to see a FAIR sport and the diving, cheating and VAR all come together to ruin the sport.
03 Dec 2020 11:40:00
Unfortunately given the money that’s involved in football now the importance of making the correct decision is ever more critical and don’t get me wrong I don’t like VAR either but are the administrators going to get rid of it I don’t think so all we can hope for is that they refine some of the rules to make the decisions less controversial ie your toenail is offside!
03 Dec 2020 15:32:57
I broadly agree with the sentiment above but wanting a perfect system is great to aspire to, it's just not realistic right now. If we want free flowing, uninterrupted football with instant correct decisions, we're kidding ourselves. We either embrace currently technology to bring down the margin of error or we scrap it and increase the margin of error and go back to England getting knocked out of world cups due to dodgy goals. 99% might have been a slight exaggeration on my part but its a fact that VAR has greatly decreased the margin of error in refereeing. The definition of the rules is a separate issue, hence my point about the governing bodies.
I think most football fans can unite around how they want the game to be played, my previous point was purely that the root cause of a lot of the issues in todays games isn't anything to do with referee competency or VAR, its the culture of cheating a deceit from CEO to players and backroom staff, coupled with shambolic governing bodies and rule makers/ enforcers. VAR/ refereeing is a symptom of a much wider set of issues that don't get anywhere near the air time of the VAR debate which just seems to be missing the woods for the tree's to me.
03 Dec 2020 20:41:48
Very well said Dave, agree 100% mate.
03 Dec 2020 21:20:36
I think the problem is that when referees go to the monitor by Stockley Park they are implying that the original decision is incorrect I haven’t counted but I wonder how many times when the officials go to the screen they hold there nerve and stand by the original decision not many I would wager.
{Ed001's Note - it happened once in the Prem and the referee who stood by his decision was punished by not being given a match for over 2 weeks.}
03 Dec 2020 22:04:30
That`s not good surely Ed.
{Ed001's Note - one ex-referee actually came out and said he believes they are told by Stockley Park what decision to make and that is why Graham Scott, the one who stood by his own decision, got no games. I think it was Clattenberg who said it.}
03 Dec 2020 22:07:59
Well then I think the games in a very bad place. We may as well remove the referees and just have all decisions via Stockley Park?