[Football] The future of VAR in England

[zefarelly]

It worked well in the World Cup but somehow the English FA and PL have managed to make a complete balls up of it.

Which is lower than zero on the suprise scale, most of the FA are probably scared of the TV, lots of people in the 1930's were.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

It would be so easy to get it right, if they just took their time to think about what the fans want. Change all the interpretations to be on the extreme side and give as much power as possible to the referees.

- linesmans calls on offside, only overturned of c clear daylight between attacker and defender, thus reinstating the concept of 'level'
- refs personally check every penalty or red card they give on the monitors and the VAR ref doesn't speak to him - it's completely up to the ref.
- potential red cards only reviewed if its off the ball or the ref doesn't give a yellow
- the criteria for giving handball pens made far more extreme - has to be clear movement of hand to ball, at least 10 yards from kicker to defender, etc - ref can give it for lesser offences but if he doesnt give it, its only overturned in extreme cases.. Video repays are always full speed.
- Come up with similar criteria for fouls in penalty box that aren't given.

Once we get used to hardly anything being overturned we will stop worrying about it so much

 

[KZNSeagull]

The only way that VAR will be anything approaching consistent is to have the same panel of people viewing every game and coming to a collective decision. That will never happen so bin it.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

It would be so easy to get it right, if they just took their time to think about what the fans want. Change all the interpretations to be on the extreme side and give as much power as possible to the referees.

- linesmans calls on offside, only overturned of c clear daylight between attacker and defender, thus reinstating the concept of 'level'
- refs personally check every penalty or red card they give on the monitors and the VAR ref doesn't speak to him - it's completely up to the ref.
- potential red cards only reviewed if its off the ball or the ref doesn't give a yellow
- the criteria for giving handball pens made far more extreme - has to be clear movement of hand to ball, at least 10 yards from kicker to defender, etc - ref can give it for lesser offences but if he doesnt give it, its only overturned in extreme cases.. Video repays are always full speed.
- Come up with similar criteria for fouls in penalty box that aren't given.

Once we get used to hardly anything being overturned we will stop worrying about it so much

Sure, if you care that much that the decision is ‘right.’ Yours and others’ suggestions just sound like you are tweaking the software in a video game. Football decision making is subjective. It is one of the joys of the game. Watch any game on tv and the half time ‘experts’ will earnestly disagree even after watching everything a hundred times in slow motion. The only difference with VAR is the pretence that decisions will be ‘right’ and a diminishing of spontaneity that reduces fan enjoyment in the stadiums.

 

[maltaseagull]

The act of leaning forward and pointing cause Bamford's arm pit to be offside.

I think I got that.
My point was that it ought not to be.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It's what happens when you bolt on new tech and then have to retrofit everything else.

It just never works.

I think it's what happens if you don't have a preconceived idea of how the technology will assist you. Cricket as an example didn't want a system that would ever undermine the umpires, so the system is designed to support them, and give their decisions weight. Their decision is still decisive. Their decision making has statistically improved because of the confidence it has given them.

Football has tried to develop a system that prevents ALL wrong decisions - which just isn't necessary. You only need to rule out the howlers.

What is the best thing about football? The moment a goal is scored. What has this system compromised - the best moment football delivers. It is ridiculous. It is catastrophic in its application.

Not sure if I've clarified this, but I'm not a fan...

 

[Pavilionaire]

Somewhere along the line the officials binned off the "clear and obvious" use of VAR and decided to go with reviewing everything, right down to the measurement of millimetres.

Presumably, they did this because with cameras everywhere it is fairly clear within seconds/minutes whether the ref's decision is wrong or right, and they felt they couldn't have incorrect decisions being allowed to stand. Yet "clear and obvious" is itself subjective.

Therefore, I don't see how they can roll this back. The genie is out of the bottle.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Please get rid of it. I've watched Albion for 48 years now and it is the only thing that has come close to persuading me to stop. I hate the lack of spontaneity now when we score as one can never be sure if it's disallowed remotely. In the past there was maybe a quick glance at the lino or ref to check all was well but now we know to our cost, the decision can be taken hundreds of miles away and several minutes later. The man u game really made the whole thing even worse. Since then I've toyed with giving up my season ticket even though I totally love BHA. Football is not the same game as it was even a couple of seasons ago, var is a joy robber.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

If the people deciding actions were better or left any subjective decisions. I am happy with toenails being offside... it's accurate ! I'm happy with the general concept.

 

[The Wizard]

It would be so easy to get it right, if they just took their time to think about what the fans want. Change all the interpretations to be on the extreme side and give as much power as possible to the referees.

- linesmans calls on offside, only overturned of c clear daylight between attacker and defender, thus reinstating the concept of 'level'
- refs personally check every penalty or red card they give on the monitors and the VAR ref doesn't speak to him - it's completely up to the ref.
- potential red cards only reviewed if its off the ball or the ref doesn't give a yellow
- the criteria for giving handball pens made far more extreme - has to be clear movement of hand to ball, at least 10 yards from kicker to defender, etc - ref can give it for lesser offences but if he doesnt give it, its only overturned in extreme cases.. Video repays are always full speed.
- Come up with similar criteria for fouls in penalty box that aren't given.

Once we get used to hardly anything being overturned we will stop worrying about it so much

This with bells on. All VAR is doing in this country at the minute is alienating fans, entirely predictable that the English FA would bring in something meant to reduce controversy and only make things worse.

I know people disagree but i hate not being able to celebrate a goal to the degree I used too, from our first game last season when Burn had his goal chalked off I lost that spontaneity of celebration which was sad. It does work both ways but nothing beats the joy of the ball hitting the back of the net and the crowd going mental. Now we have to worry about someone’s armpit being offside.

 

[Mackenzie]

Bin it, make the offside rules clearer (if you’re offside it’s offside) but keep the ball tracking for goals.

 

[Stephen Seagull]

Keep it, it needs some ironing out.
Also voted for other - The rules need to be re-written for football as it's being played today;
a few that I can think of but there will be many, many others
1. How long can they go back to review a goal? (The penalty against United we could've gone back to check the infringement 5 seconds before.)
2. Checking for offsides needs to be clearer - no one really knows now what is offside
3. Penalties and player infringements - In the Real Madrid game (not in the Prem but still relevant) Valencia missed the penalty and subsequent rebound but the Valencia player that was in the area when the spot kick was taken (and he was the only one) scored the rebound after that they penalty had to be retaken. In my opinion, that should be a free kick on the edge of the area.

 

[southstandandy]

Please get rid of it. I've watched Albion for 48 years now and it is the only thing that has come close to persuading me to stop. I hate the lack of spontaneity now when we score as one can never be sure if it's disallowed remotely. In the past there was maybe a quick glance at the lino or ref to check all was well but now we know to our cost, the decision can be taken hundreds of miles away and several minutes later. The man u game really made the whole thing even worse. Since then I've toyed with giving up my season ticket even though I totally love BHA. Football is not the same game as it was even a couple of seasons ago, var is a joy robber.

You're not the only one. I have spoken to several other ST holders of my age (over 50) who have expressed similar views over the last year. With me rediscovering the local county football scene this season if I gave up my ST I don't think I'd miss it that much.

It's not just VAR that has killed the game at the top end for me but numerous other factors as well which I won't bore you all with on this thread. I'll consider it at the end of the season but if so would be an end to a continuous ST I've had for 35 years including our 2 years at Gillingham.

 

[Weststander]

Interesting that 43% don’t want it binned.

NSC VAR debates give the impression of universal loathing.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

This with bells on. All VAR is doing in this country at the minute is alienating fans, entirely predictable that the English FA would bring in something meant to reduce controversy and only make things worse.

I know people disagree but i hate not being able to celebrate a goal to the degree I used too, from our first game last season when Burn had his goal chalked off I lost that spontaneity of celebration which was sad. It does work both ways but nothing beats the joy of the ball hitting the back of the net and the crowd going mental. Now we have to worry about someone’s armpit being offside.

Just celebrate regardless. The bonus is you get to celebrate when the oppo goal rightly gets chalked off which never happened in The Championship. Still convinced it benefits 'clubs like us.'

 

[Barham's tash]

Scrap it or risk alienating roughly 50% of football supporters.

I’d be interested in seeing some demographic data around ages and in favour/scrap as expect anyone <30 more likely to be forgiving and anyone >30 thinking it’s the worst thing ever.

Personally I think I’m done with Premier League football from an attending perspective and VAR is at least 60% responsible for that.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Keep it FOR CLEAR AND OBVIOUS ERRORS ONLY - as was the idea in the first ****ing place. i.e. stuff like the Henry handball vs Ireland.

Anything that isn't clear and obvious can stay with the ref's onfield decision.

This was the whole point of bringing it in.

Not this shit show we are now seeing with the laws being changed to fit VAR

 

[essbee1]

Bin it. It's taken over now and that wasn't the point. Also run by incompetent cretins, i.e. refs.
I would rather be run by cretins on the pitch than cretins off it.

 

[emphyrian]

I think i'd like to see he NFL style challenge. Each manager has a red flag which is thrown onto the pitch to say they would like a decision looked at. If a player goes down and a pen is awarded the manager can throw the flag and this decision is looked at by the ref only on a screen next to the pitch. Multiple angles which we would see at home and 60 seconds to either stick with or overturn the decision. one challenge per manager per half.

 

[Sorrel]

One person on this board works at the FA? That's the only way we can explain the single positive vote for it as it is done now.