Checking in with an Actifit report today but padding the post out with the new piece of kit brought into the Premier League this past weekend, VAR.
VAR, in case you've missed it, stands for video assistant referee but is actually a team of people who review potential cock-ups by the main referee by watching replays - not on the big screen like everyone else (including some referees) has been doing for years.
Goals (and violations in the build-up to them), penalties, red cards and accidental bookings of the wrong players are the main incidents to be reviewed, and for decisions made by the referee to be overturned, there must be a clear mistake.
Both the referee and the team watching the game can request a review, at which point the fans go for a leak while the team repeated rewind the incident and decide if a clear error has been made. The referee can then act on the teams decision and change their mind, go for a look at the incident, stay with their original call.
I've been hunting for some data and used the link below to put together a summary table how often VAR was used this weekend in the premier league.
| Game | VAR checks | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| Liverpool 4-1 Norwich | 5 | 0 |
| West Ham 0-5 Manchester City | 7 | 2 |
| Burnley 3-0 Southampton | 6 | 0 |
| Watford 0-3 Brighton | 6 | 0 |
| Bournemouth 1-1 Sheffield Utd | 6 | 0 |
| Tottenham 3-1 Aston Villa | 7 | 0 |
| Leicester 0-0 Wolves | 1 | 1 |
| Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea | 5 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton | 6 | 0 |
| Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 50 | 3 |
Summarised from https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49307496
Was that a busy weekend or are 50 checks going to be the average? We'll need more weeks data to find out if that is the case but 50 (an average of 5 per game) sounds like a lot to me. At 30 seconds that's 25 minutes extra, but the majority seemed to last at least that long and if you add the cock-up with the headset during the Liverpool game which added 5 minutes alone, this delay is going to add hours to the total length of the games each season?
Personally, I'm OK with VAR and have stated previously that I'd rather wait a minute or so for the correct decision to be made, that watch some cheating b$$$$$$$ on the opposition fall over his own feet and win the game with a penalty.
What do you think? VAR, or post then bar? 🍺🍺🍺🍺
If used correctly, it can be a useful tool. That is using it to review and overturn absolute clear errors. Where you get into grey areas, is when you start to see it used to determine whether an infringement so slight (and did not impede play) that you have to to slow it down to frame by frame to see if it even occurred.
We've seen it in Australian Rules with goal reviews, where they will go down to a frame by frame shot (often with grainy footage that looks like it's zoomed in from 4 miles away and taken with a potato) to try to guess whether a ball has brushed the fingers of an opposition player as it was kicked. Farcial.
We see it with cricket and the DRS where decisions are made on a computerised estimate of the path of the ball, and match defining outcomes can be based on a millimeter or two.
Keep it for finding the absolute howlers, and it should be OK.
Yeah there are plenty of initiatives that have been around a while in other sports like Cyclops for Tennis, and the impressive 'predict a stump' in the Cricket, so I do think Football has been lagging behind. The money riding on games is crazy and so getting it right more often should hopefully suit most - although maybe not the bent players an officials :)
I also like the implementation of VAR. At least, it would reduce football die minute cheat. However, it may end up having its flaws. I had a mixed feeling about Aguero's PK against West Ham. If he had scored the goal in the first attempt, would the referee re-award it because Fabianski wasn't on the right spot? I just think something isn't entirely right there.
I think the ref would probably award the goal, like playing an advantage. Although VAR did take up some time this weekend, I'm OK with it too.
No VAR. Imagine all the content that would be missing from the world if VAR had caught Maradona. Sport should be a place for passion and controversy on the field where the good guy doesn't always win and the crowds of fans can be robbed.
It's a good point, however, England were the best team that year and deserved to win the world cup in 86!
Screw Maradona and all the content (I've made money in the past) presenting!
I think it is a good thing, but only on something serious like a handball or a foul. They need to speed the process up though and maybe have another monitor delayed by a 20 seconds next to the live monitor to catch up on what has happened. Should literally take a few seconds for something blatant.
Yes the process does need to improve in time delays but I can wait for a correct decision. You OK with the wrong player getting accidentally sent off for a mistaken identity booking then? :)
VAR for the win!! That way as you say, someone getting a result for their team by beaing a fally down woos!
Yep, and the added bonus is that you can get to see what a cheating twat they've been multiple times :D
Lol, yeah. Its like their own tv show!
We had a lot of goals this week and i feel they check almost all of them, so maybe it will be less. With time they will be more efficient so less time to check something. Sometimes it feels that it takes from dynamic of the game but it is needed.
Yeah they check all the goals, part of the protocol apparently. The headset balls up in the Liverpool game was the biggest time waste, that shouldn't happen often and hopefully they'll get more efficient.
Over 8k steps and excellent sports all in one post.nice sir
Thank you kindly sir :)
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