Get rid of VAR NOW! We want our game back! (...or not, some are happy)

VAR - Love or Hate?

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The standard of refereeing is simply terrible. The same useless fecks sitting behind a screen doesn't change the fact they don't seem to have a clue and just make shit up as they go along.

We've seen this all season. They receive criticism from the media, they have a few meetings regarding the topic, they'll pretend to set precedence and it'll keep for a few weeks and you'll see a few ridiculous decisions based the new way a certain rule is applied, there'll be some discussions about it, then everyone forgets about it and the refs goes back to standard refereeing with the usual inconsistencies in interpretations of rules, as well as regular mistakes.

DixieDean said:
The sport has been made worse by this shit.
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I agree. The refs should not be anyones focus. "The refs suck" one might argue is apart of football, but I beg to differ. Refereeing mistakes has always taken away from the game. The PL had referee's ruining games on a weekly basis before VAR. Everyone had to suck it up, berate the refs for a couple of days, then move on, and managers couldn't even complain without getting their club in trouble. They fecked up quickly and efficiently, and everyone had to just move on, next week rinse and repeat.

Now, with VAR, we give the refs the help they need. They can afford to take a very long time out from the game to get decisions right and yet, they still get it wrong. This is simply not good enough. We can't say that the system is the main flaw, because all it literally is made to do is to help refs be less of a diversion to the game itself. What VAR has highlighted is that the English refs and those in charge are so bad that even with technology at their disposal, they fail to learn and improve, and yes. If the focus is on the ref, the sport is worse. If the ref takes a long time to make a decision, it's not good. If the producer focus on the VAR team, it takes away from the game. Their utter incompetence has been exposed time and time again this season by the introduction of VAR, and hopefully we wont just 'move on' from it this time.

A lot of work and a real update on systemic issues is needed or it'll continue to effect the league for years. The answer isn't to just put a bunch of refs who has been trained to be diversions (ask Clattenburg) in front of a screen and let them take forever to do the same shit they did before. It's pretending to solve something, when it seems, they aren't really that bothered about it.
 
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MikeKing said:
The standard of refereeing is simply terrible. The same useless fecks sitting behind a screen doesn't change the fact they don't seem to have a clue and just make shit up as they go along.

We've seen this all season. They receive criticism from the media, they have a few meetings regarding the topic, they'll pretend to set precedence and it'll keep for a few weeks and you'll see a few ridiculous decisions based the new way a certain rule is applied, there'll be some discussions about it, then everyone forgets about it and the refs goes back to standard refereeing with the usual inconsistencies in interpretations of rules, as well as regular mistakes.


I agree. The refs should not be anyones focus. "The refs suck" one might argue is apart of football, but I beg to differ. Refereeing mistakes has always taken away from the game. The PL had referee's ruining games on a weekly basis before VAR. Everyone had to suck it up, berate the refs for a couple of days, then move on, and managers couldn't even complain without getting their club in trouble. They fecked up quickly and efficiently, and everyone had to just move on, next week rinse and repeat.

Now, with VAR, we give the refs the help they need. They can afford to take a very long time out from the game to get decisions right and yet, they still get it wrong. This is simply not good enough. We can't say that the system is the main flaw, because all it literally is made to do is to help refs be less of a diversion to the game itself. What VAR has highlighted is that the English refs and those in charge are so bad that even with technology at their disposal, they fail to learn and improve, and yes. If the focus is on the ref, the sport is worse. If the ref takes a long time to make a decision, it's not good. If the producer focus on the VAR team, it takes away from the game. Their utter incompetence has been exposed time and time again this season by the introduction of VAR, and hopefully we wont just 'move on' from it this time.

A lot of work and a real update on systemic issues is needed or it'll continue to effect the league for years. The answer isn't to just put a bunch of refs who has been trained to be diversions (ask Clattenburg) in front of a screen and let them take forever to do the same shit they did before. It's pretending to solve something, when it seems, they aren't really that bothered about it.
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There's a clear anti VAR agenda among referees. They feck it up and then people bite the bait and say "VAR bad".
The real issue is not being addressed: the referee board is just incompetent and corrupt and the ref association is a corporativist circle jerk. Somehow people blame VAR for not fixing this.
 
Le Red said:
There's a clear anti VAR agenda among referees. They feck it up and then people bite the bait and say "VAR bad".
The real issue is not being addressed: the referee board is just incompetent and corrupt and the ref association is a corporativist circle jerk. Somehow people blame VAR for not fixing this.
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Yes. I'm not entirely sure that speculating about corruption is the way to go, but the way things work right now sure do keep things open to interpretation and feelings. It all seems very protective, self-serving and unclear. VAR right now is indeed almost as much of a distraction from football as it is a distraction from the standard of refereeing in front of us. Like it's possible to somehow separate the two.

VAR is like those racism campaigns, it highlights things that are wrong but the actual change has to come from within. Imagine people going like 'oh these campaigns aren't doing anything, they've tried it and it doesn't work why even bother anymore, there'll always be racist's, leave it alone and let's move on now'. It's a seriously flawed way of thinking in terms of progress.
 
Now, obviously the solution to much of the nonsense is just to defer the main ref to the pitchside screen. Then it's not a matter of "clearly and obviously" overturning, the main ref only needs to change his mind on the balance of probabilities, ie overturning is more right than the decision I made with the view I had on the pitch. That would see a lot of the calls having different outcomes as it's much easier for a ref to say "ah, I got that slightly wrong" than for another ref to say "you got it very, very wrong and that's more than very wrong so I'm going to recommend to overturn it!".

Just look at how quickly Nketiah was sent off once the ref had been sent to the monitor the other day. 2-3 minutes of VAR replays where everyone could see that it was a red by the letter of the law, but the VAR obviously hesitated due to the "clear and obvious" clause when everyone's in agreement that red is more correct than yellow for that challenge. Sends the ref to the screen, one replay and five seconds later he's sent off.

That being said, if we're going to keep the system as it is I don't understand why we have to have VARs that are from the same pool of refs as the ones on the pitch. Just bring in talented referees who have a good grasp of the laws of the game but who may not pass the fitness tests, or train a separate set of referees who go straight into a VAR path with no chance to become on-field referees. Have them sit at Stockley Park and train them separately from the on-field refs. That way they don't develop personal relationships and there's not a matter of "Well I can't overturn Jon Moss since he sent me a load of vintage vinyls three weeks ago and it'd embarrass him". That would also reduce referee fatigue and have them concentrate on their fitness and recovery on weeks that they're not doing on-field officiating.

I definitely think there's room for improvement if the PGMOL can swallow their pride and admit they got it wrong with this season's application of VAR. I doubt that though so I hope that FIFA step in and tell them what's what.
 
MikeKing said:
Yes. I'm not entirely sure that speculating about corruption is the way to go, but the way things work right now sure do keep things open to interpretation and feelings. It all seems very protective, self-serving and unclear. VAR right now is indeed almost as much of a distraction from football as it is a distraction from the standard of refereeing in front of us. Like it's possible to somehow separate the two.

VAR is like those racism campaigns, it highlights things that are wrong but the actual change has to come from within. Imagine people going like 'oh these campaigns aren't doing anything, they've tried it and it doesn't work why even bother anymore, there'll always be racist's, leave it alone and let's move on now'. It's a seriously flawed way of thinking in terms of progress.
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I don't know about the analogy but I think you got the spirit right. If you just let VAR take the blame for the referee's mistakes, they get away with murder everytime.
 
Let’s see the lack of moans from media about Romelu not getting sent off.
 
How the hell did it ignore that Romeu tackle, he just tried to do Greenwood in.
 
The problem is that VAR seems to exist to validate the decisions of these shitty refs rather than to arrive at the correct decision.
 
VAR was always going to be shit because the refs are shit. They've always been shit and they're in charge of it. If they weren't fecking shit in the first place, this thing wouldn't even need to exist.
 
Zero protection for a prodigious 18 year old.
 
Just don't see the point it. That was a perfect moment for VAR to show why it's there, and it couldn't have been more obvious a decision.
 
I’d like to know the justification for not sending off Romeu. That was not mistimed, he tried to break him long after the ball had gone. Disgraceful tackle.
 
Terrible. Getting offside wrong or whatever is frustrating but that was a fecking safety issue. Prick tried to break Greenwood’s leg the shithouse.
 
Why not just ask the ref to have a look at it himself? Mind boggling
 
ha_rooney said:
I’d like to know the justification for not sending off Romeu. That was not mistimed, he tried to break him long after the ball had gone. Disgraceful tackle.
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Yep, he lifted his studs and went in above his ankle well after the ball was gone. Guarantee Romeu will be involved in their equaliser now.
 
It seems they’re more worried about interrupting the flow of the game than getting correct decisions. Ref missed that one, understandably, so help him out. Let him know what’s happened and send him to the screen
 
Ok, this is my limit. Time to get rid of it in its current format if this is how they're gonna use it.
 
There needs to be a serious, in depth review of VAR after this season and lessons need to be learned. It's beyond abysmal as it is right now. Like, it couldn't have been applied worse if you tried. A clear 0/10. We need transparency about what's going on in that VAR room during games, at the very least.
 
How are we meant to trust referees without VAR when they are this shocking with perfect camera angles to look at?
 
Too many inconsistencies with VAR right now. What's the point if you can't correct a decision like that which is a big moment being missed by ref.
 
Would love to see SAF post match interview tearing VAR people a new one.

It's embarassing what this premier league version of var has become.
 
would love to hear what nonsense excuses VAR officials make for not giving a red there.
 
Probably the only thing I hate with VAR. When they check for red cards, and come to the conclusions that the tackle was bad but not necessarily a red card (though I think this was a red), why not at least give a yellow? I think they should change this rule instead of a binary choice: red/no-read, to be read/yellow/none.

I am not advocating to start checking for yellows, but if it is already checked for red, then it won't cost anything to give a yellow.
 
So because the ref plays advantage and thereby 'acknowledges' the foul, the monkeys in charge of VAR decide to ignore the incident completely? The implementation of VAR in the PL is beyond ridiculous. Amateur hour stuff.
 
The clear foul play that it could be potentially great for is being ignored

just don’t be within a mm of offside or let the ball touch your shoulder, then VAR will show who’s boss and what it’s made of.

its absolute crap
 
It's an absolute farce. Letting Romeu get away with a foul as nasty as that on an 18 year old? Just glad Mason's okay.
 
If the video referees are too scared to contradict their on field colleagues then we need to have the screens at pitchside, like in the Champions League. There's no way the referee could look at Romeu lifting his trailing leg to stud Mason and not see it as a red card. Disgraceful.
 
Perfect situation to defer to the screen.

Hey ref, I think you might've missed something there, have a look. Ref looks: Yup, that's studs on him, clear red, and he's off in ten seconds.
 
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