Totally with you. VAR is a tool that isn’t used consistently well. Change the process, protocols, and improve the use of the tool, don’t cancel the tool. Like imagine cavemen wanting to revert to hammering pegs with stones after being given hammers, only because they couldn’t learn how to use a hammer right and kept hammering their fingers lol.
IMO, the current issue with VAR is that in its current application it is stifled and shackled. It’s an “assistant” referee and therefore actual authority sits with onfield officials. As such, intervention is mostly based on the subjective grounds of “was there a clear and obvious error made by onfield officials” according to the opinion of this humble VAR official (offside aside). Instead intervention should take place when an offense is spotted regardless of the onfield decision, and this “clear and obvious error by onfield” humdrum should be dropped altogether. Give VAR more decision making authority to override onfield officials and drop the silly clear and obvious criterion and we’ll be moving ahead. In other words: Video Referee, not Video Assistant Referee. Probably I’d argue ultimate authority should sit with the Video Ref.
Also, we don’t want to over-police the game. The fact that this is a physical game should be factored and rooted in the heart of video refereeing. Everything slomo looks like a UFC tackle. Every hand placed on a shoulder, and every shirt tug looks like a judo grapple when the frames are frozen. The “Video refereeing checklist” of what is a foul in each distinct measurable situation needs to be articulated and defined. Today it seems like it’s subjective and up to the operator’s interpretation leading to the inconsistencies we see.
Totally with you. VAR is a tool that isn’t used consistently well. Change the process, protocols, and improve the use of the tool, don’t cancel the tool. Like imagine cavemen wanting to revert to hammering pegs with stones after being given hammers, only because they couldn’t learn how to use a hammer right and kept hammering their fingers lol.
IMO, the current issue with VAR is that in its current application it is stifled and shackled. It’s an “assistant” referee and therefore actual authority sits with onfield officials. As such, intervention is mostly based on the subjective grounds of “was there a clear and obvious error made by onfield officials” according to the opinion of this humble VAR official (offside aside). Instead intervention should take place when an offense is spotted regardless of the onfield decision, and this “clear and obvious error by onfield” humdrum should be dropped altogether. Give VAR more decision making authority to override onfield officials and drop the silly clear and obvious criterion and we’ll be moving ahead. In other words: Video Referee, not Video Assistant Referee. Probably I’d argue ultimate authority should sit with the Video Ref.
Also, we don’t want to over-police the game. The fact that this is a physical game should be factored and rooted in the heart of video refereeing. Everything slomo looks like a UFC tackle. Every hand placed on a shoulder, and every shirt tug looks like a judo grapple when the frames are frozen. The “Video refereeing checklist” of what is a foul in each distinct measurable situation needs to be articulated and defined. Today it seems like it’s subjective and up to the operator’s interpretation leading to the inconsistencies we see.