My fellow thinking Gooners, I have long stood alone from the mainstream view, on thinking we are chasing fool’s gold to ever expect near perfection in key refereeing decisions.
I offer one basic reason for this view, which is that decisions are made, whether on field or by VAR, by humans. And humans will always make mistakes, which to my mind is beyond obvious.
I consider my thinking about this to be factual and logical in not expecting the human impossible, therefore.
VAR was brought in a few, about five, years ago I think from memory, in order to eradicate ref howlers and all it has achieved, in my view, is to spoil the vitally important fun and enjoyment for those watching and cause endless frustration.
The Coventry v Man Utd semifinal last weekend was such a case and though it did, EVENTUALLY achieve the technically correct decision, as the Coventry would-be winning goal was FRACTIONALLY offside, it spoiled the occasion and a memorable victory for Coventry was denied at the death.
I start from the standpoint that enjoying games and not having to wait endless frustrating minutes for a final VAR decision, is not right. I would far rather accept the on-field ref’s original decision than face the frustrating and unfair farcical minefield that VAR has spawned.
I accept that in an ideal world, IF and only IF, VAR could ever be made 100% correct by using only non-human use technology, and also instant, I would be fine with it.
But my friends, after five long years of it, all we have is constant hassle, endless waits without any fan info, frustration, unfair decisions and many of those decisions are, just as the pitch refs decisions are, entirely SUBJECTIVE AND OPEN TO INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION.
I see no point in two or more refs each having their own subjective decision and differing from each other. How does that help anybody!!
I have another and vitally important objection to having a second VAR ref overseeing and thus undermining the refs on field authority.
I was brought up to accept that a refs decision is final and NOT to have it subjected to VAR scrutiny, therefore.
Nor do I accept that refs be surrounded by truculent players who blatantly refuse to accept decisions. I would want it mandated by the football authorities that ANY player is banned from approaching refs, save only the captain who would be allowed, politely and in a low-key manner, to request (though not demand), to ask why that decision was given.
Other than the captain, all who refuse to instantly accept the ref’s decision be red carded and face a long ban from playing, plus a huge fine.
Put simply, I am sick to death of refs being treated with disdain and unfairly.
I also want to point out the irony of fans, most of whom across football are biased toward their own club and who often call refs “cheats”, and of players, who badmouth refs is a total disgrace and must stop right now, if we care at all for the future of unbiased refs in our game. Of even having enough refs prepared to face all that unfair pressure too.
Refs at grassroot level are leaving in droves, and no wonder, when so many are verbally attacked and many physically attacked too. This is an utter disgrace, and all those who do this ought to be instantly punished as the law of the land sees fit.
My fellow Gooners, I consider it of great importance that we return to the halcyon days of yore when crowds may have moaned, even a lot, but accepted the ref’s decisions as final and contented themselves with shouting such as “get some specs ref”, amid laughter around them.
I am NOT in favour of trying to make fans and players behave as though they we are having tea at the vicarage, but simply to return to the days when behaviour was, by and large, decent, and refs were NOT under the enormous pressure that fan attitudes and such as VAR have now put them under.
I care passionately for the future decency of our beloved game and want to turn back the tide of destroying the chances of future refs even being willing to undergo all the nonsense they have been on the receiving end for many years past. We URGENTLY need to change tack and I can and do see that clearly, even if less perceptive fans cannot.
Finally, friends, I do not intend to get drawn into more quarrels about VAR by replying to fractious posts. My view is as outlined here, and no amount of debate will change my view.
Please I would love to read your views, but you have already read mine and they are and will remain as they have been for many years past.
Finally, by next Sunday night coming, I suspect we might be either firm favourites for the title OR long odds against. I fancy our chances strongly!
COYG
Jon Fox
Well well well. VAR is supposed to represent the same argument that you in the media see through Live TV and incident replays.
The media loves to show to the viewing public how the referee got it wrong.
So you the media are to blame for the introduction of VAR.
The reason you are now having a go at VAR is because with VAR there are less refereeing mistakes for you to talk about in your reports.
Yes, VAR also make mistakes but not as many mistakes as our referees usually make.
For instance, the “media was ranting” about how Tottenham was denied a penalty when a player received minimal contact by the lightest of heel clipping in the penalty area. Then later on live TV, just by coincidence in the Nottingham v Man City game, de bruyne also clipped the heel of a Nottingham player on the 40 th minute in the penalty area, but nothing was said by the media that Nottingham Forest should have been awarded a penalty.
Why does Tottenham deserve a penalty and not Nottingham Forest for the same minimal heel clipping incident in side the penalty area.
The media likes controversy to give them something to write about, especially about Arsenal and less so about the FA pending indictment Man City Team, and that’s not an exclusive, it’s a fact!
Daveg, which ‘media was ranting’. I’ve yet to read of a rant, unless some Spurs bloggers are having a moan, but they don’t count.
The Man City issue goes to court in this autumn, so there’s not much to talk about until then. Come back in 6 or 7 months time, it should be fun😃.
Which “media was ranting’?
Jax, The ranting was from the TV commentators of the game that brought up the penalty subject an annoying 50 times. I think Lee Dixon was trying to do an Alan Smith by over doing the unbiased take on the game, but he did go on a bit. Unlike the commentators of the Nottingham forest v Man City game who only half mentioned the de bruyne penalty heel clip on just two inhalers of breath. The media rant was not aimed at just Arsenal’s Admin Pat, I just tied that in with his VAR report. Sorry Pat.
VAR improvements are already scheduled for next season (2024/5), as Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) is being introduced to the Premier League.
Offsides will be quickly relayed to officials who will stop play immediately, preventing the current irritating wait until the end of that phase of play before flagging. There is no human element to SAOT decisions.
What could possibly go wrong?
Eradicating VAR is not the solution as that would take us back to square one. VAR was used in AFCON and other competitions/league to a great success.
The problem of VAR in EPL is the lack of consistency
We don’t know what a red card tackle is anymore, we don’t know what a handball is anymore, we don’t know what a penalty is anymore
This inconsistency can be reduced (not eliminated) in a number of ways e.g VAR must be from an independent body.
Lastly, a technology similar to goal line technology should henceforth be used to judge all offside incidences. It takes only 2 secs
Timothy, the technology you’re asking for is called Semi-Automated Offside Technology. (SAOT), and is already in use in some European leagues, and will be introduced into the Premier League next season.
You hit the nail on the head on an independent body there. It’s not a coincidence that whatever technology introduced the English officials “incompetence” keeps going higher and higher.
Why do the rest of the world always get it right except the English? Because it’s on purpose that’s why.
“on purpose”🙄
Without the correct use of VAR by the off field officials, the spuds would have equalised, as the on field referee, incorrectly, gave a goal that wasn’t a goal.
The spud fans were instantly celebrating a goal that wasn’t a goal – not the fault of VAR, as it was used to prove the goal was offside, so it wasn’t a goal.
Simple and correct decision given.
One of our so called top officials failed to see Rice commit a foul in the penalty area, despite standing less than three yards away, with a perfect view.
Using var, he was called over to the screen and within seconds awarded the penalty.
Simple and correct decision given.
Last season, Brentford were awarded a goal, when the player was in an offside position.
The officials using var forgot to draw the correct lines and the goal stood… as it would have done without var and the Brentford fans celebrated a goal that wasn’t a goal.
If var is wanted by the PGMOL as a tool to improve their decision making, which it has, all they have to do is ensure that their members are trained properly and know the rules and not using their personal opinions when making a decision.
As for referees getting abused, I refereed about forty years ago and was spat on, threatened, had my car vandalised and saw players fighting each other on the pitch and surrounding me when I made decisions they didn’t like,including parents walking up to me while refereeing an under 10 game.
I don’t know what it’s like at grass level today, but it certainly wasn’t a picnic back then either… and VAR technology didn’t even exist.
I think every generation refers to the good old days.
I think the worst VAR this season was Liverpool’s goal by Diaz, against Spurs, being given offside on the pitch, VAR correcting it to onside, but miscommunication by referee England cause it to stay given as off. Probably cost Liverpool the game.
I ought to make it clear that this article was sent into JA last Wednesday but for perfectly understandable reasons was held back til now.
So my last line was about the Spurs win which I expected and predicted and also the City win at Forest. And so in fact our odds for the title haveNOT changed much since before both matches were played.
Haha. That’s why I changed to NEXT Sunday to cover my very busy ar@% lol
I stopped reading after the straw man argument in the 1st sentence.
No-one expected perfection or “near” perfection.
We just wanted improvement (and we have that).
Now, we want to understand why the refs using it are so much worse than in other sports.
One person in another forum asked what we expected when the same useless gits that were making bad decisions before are the ones using the new tech. lol It’s not a bad question.
Your headline is another straw man – the ref’s decision is final. Always has been. He just gets more help now and a chance to change his mind before it’s too late. That’s been said to you before but you keep on posting the same stuff.
The real discussion is how to improve VAR. I wish this site would post more articles on that and just delete any pointless posts from Luddites who want to smash the machinery.
Agreed Neutral – this word “perfection” seems to have appeared, not from those in favour of keeping and improving var, but by those who want it banned and use the word as a whipping stick.
If only those who use VAR understood the rules of the game and / or were trained in the proper use of it, we wouldn’t have these debates.
VAR is here to stay though, unfortunately for you.
I’d much rather have VAR correcting decisions, be it for us or against us, than just the on field officials making wrong decisions.
Wouldn’t most sensible thinking fans say the same HD?
Imagine what the comments on here would be if the spud goal had stood and changed the game?
I can’t understand why ANY fan would think otherwise, unless they want to win at any cost.
All it needs is for the officials to be trained properly, know the rules to guarantee consistency and implement them, rather than expressing their own opinion.
Of course, some of the rules, such as handball, need to be looked at, as they are farcical.
I would hope fans would think like that Ken, but I would say that most want to win at all costs.
When a ref gives a decision against us, like a penalty, my first thought is would I want that decision for us.
As for handball, yes it certainly does need to be looked at, as even players don’t know what handball is these days
I strongly agree with two very well-stated points in the article:
1. “I start from the standpoint that enjoying games and not having to wait endless frustrating minutes for a final VAR decision, is not right. I would far rather accept the on-field ref’s original decision than face the frustrating and unfair farcical minefield that VAR has spawned.”
I watch far few full games than I used to, and almost always on delay so I can FF through this painful ritual (and other annoying nonsense like time wasting and players rolling around like they’ve been shot with a rifle for a trivial knock). The visceral excitement of being able to celebrate a live match goal instantly (after a quick glance to the sidelines for a flag) is totally gone. We almost always have to suffer through 2-3 minutes of watching the ref stand there with his finger in his ear or the even longer ritual of running over to look at the monitor and eventually run back out to deliver a decision 2-6 minutes later. Total buzzkill that sucks all the joy out of the game.
“I accept that in an ideal world, IF and only IF, VAR could ever be made 100% correct by using only non-human use technology, and also instant, I would be fine with it.”
Yes, quick and accurate or don’t bother. Like goal line technology.
I have never got over the terrible refereeing decisions during the infamous Old Trafford game that ended our unbeaten run.I was fully behind the introduction of var and thought it would put an end to managers influencing Referees. I have now completely changed my mind for all the points Jon raises.I watched the 6 goal Hull City v Ipswich game on Saturday and it was a Joy watching a very good game not interrupted by endless var delays.
SAOT is coming to the PL next season, and there’s no human element at all. We could actually do away with VAR completely and just use goal line tech and SAOT.
But it won’t start until after the Autumn internationals break due to some PL clubs still not satisfied about possible glitches in the system, so want it checked some more.
This is after it being a success at the World Cup and in Europe.
Good article Jon.
It seems we either get a faster game that’s full of refereeing errors, or a slower game with fewer errors. It’s increased fairness vs a perceived increased enjoyment for the fans – I would always go with increased fairness because otherwise we’re basically saying the rules are secondary to “the product”. It’s the same to me as the idea to play games in the US – product over fairness, or the sanctity of the game.
I think a lot of people forget how bad the refereeing always was before var and I think every var mistake sticks out in people’s minds far more than the numerous occasions where var has prevented catastrophic blunders.