How many times have Arsenal fans had extensive discussions about the sheer bloody-mindedness of VAR decisions, and their unaccountability to the fans and the managers that are absolutely certain they have made grave errors?
There have hundreds of arguments for and against VAR since it was first introduced, but although it seems to work fairly well all over Europe, we can’t seem to get to grips with it in the Premier League, with irrational decisions seeming to pop up every single week.
But now there is a little hope of improvement on the horizon with a campaign led by the FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina. (Remember the bald Italian referee – definitely one of the best officials I have ever seen)
Anyway they have decided to get VAR callouts properly communicated to fans and officials during the game, with a reason for the stoppage.
FIFA reported: At its Annual Business Meeting held at Wembley Stadium in London on 18 January 2023, The IFAB followed up on the recommendations made by its Football and Technical Advisory Panels in October 2022. It agreed that referees’ live communication of video assistant referee (VAR) related decisions to the public – both in the stadium and via broadcasters – would be trialled for 12 months in international competitions, and that it would initially be rolled out at the FIFA Club World Cup™ in Morocco, which began on 1 February.
That Club World Cup (with Real Madrid involved) competition has now begun, and depending on the trial findings, it is expected be trialled again at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia later this year, and if successful, the big test will come at the FIFA Womens World Cup to be held this summer in Australia and New Zealand.
Collina seems to be keen on the idea, telling the official FIFA website: “We decided to have this trial because we received some requests to make the decision taken by the referee after a VAR intervention more understandable for all the football stakeholders, namely the spectators at the stadium, or in front of the television” he explained.
“As language could be one of the issues, we thought this FIFA Club World Cup would be perfect because it’s a multi-language competition, with teams and, of course, spectators involved coming from all six of the different continents.”
“I have to say that there are other experiences in other sports, namely the NFL in American football, who have been doing this for quite a long time. It seems that the referees are pretty comfortable with this” continued Collina.
“In football, language could be a problem, particularly when you have to make this announcement in a language which is not your mother tongue. This may not be that easy. But as the announcement will be quite concise, I’m very confident that the referees will feel comfortable with this.”
Well, I personally think this will be a massive improvement if we can get VAR interventions to be communicated to us in real time, rather than fans just sitting there fuming!
What is your opinion on this idea?
Admin Pat
—————————-
WATCH EVERY ONE of Mikel Arteta’s and Jonas Eidevall’s Full Press conferences by subscribing to our YouTube Channel – JustArsenalVids
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…