VAR Discussion Thread | 2024/25

[bridgeno1]

Turned over to the City game once ours finished and watched the replay of the penalty. Not a fucking chance is that a pen. Sure, his foot is high but he got the ball first. And then for VAR to say the original non-penalty award was a clear and obvious error is bonkers. VAR should only intervene if the ref has made a total cock up (like last night when the ref gave the Dippers a penalty that VAR overturned) and in this case he hadn't.

 

[bluetonium]

Well if that's a penalty, where you can win the ball despite being fouled yourself and not make contact with the opponent but still give away a penalty because of a high boot, despite the opponent stooping, then say goodbye to Haaland ever scoring a spectacular volley ever again.

Shall we just go with no challenges over shoulder height? And when we jump for headers we can all do so like penguins, arms by the side. Maybe players, if they can't reach the ball, try to head the opponent's body instead, and claim for a freeze frame decision in their favour? Worked tonight for Eric the con artist.

 

[johnnytapia]

A few weeks ago in the NRL play-offs in Australia, there was huge controversy over the officials making an impact on the result.

Brisbane here in white were away at league leaders Canberra in Green, in the first week of the finals:



#1 in white Reece Walsh headbutted someone early in the second half and only got a Sin Bin for it [0.55 on the vid]. After he came back on he scored a try [1.54 on the vid], set up a try [2.04 on the vid], kicked a 40-20 to set up the play another try was scored off the back of [2.10 on the vid], then on the final hooter he was kicking for a 2-point drop goal to go level and take the game to extra time which he missed but the Video Ref harshly said that he was tackled late so they gave Brisbane a penalty [2.45 on the vid]… he then kicked the penalty which did take it to extra time.

In extra time, Canberra scored a winning try [3.53 on the vid] which was disallowed for a knock-on which was very dubious (I don’t think the Canberra lad touched it so couldn’t have knocked it on). And then Brisbane went and scored a drop goal to win the game.

Canberra fans were furious with the fact Walsh wasn’t sent off for the headbutt (although he tried to put a lot of force into it, he sort of missed), also furious that Carrigan wasn’t sent off for his high shot [1.28 on the vid] shoulder to the head, furious with the decision to award a penalty for a late challenge on Walsh as the kicker, furious with the decision to disallow their winning try and furious in general that because Reece Walsh is a superstar he was treated kindly where others would have been sent off and others would not have gained a penalty for what he did on the hooter.

Brisbane went on from winning that game to win the semifinals last week and are now in the Grand Final this Sunday.

This is in a sport and league where the officials and video refs are usually excellent. But even there there’s controversy from time-to-time.

The equivalent of this happening in football would be: Arsenal’s Saka not being sent off for headbutting someone, Rice not being sent off for smashing someone in the head with his shoulder, then Saka scoring a goal, getting an assist, winning a corner that they scored from, then being brought down for a dubious penalty that he converted which took the game into extra time… the opposition scoring a legitimate goal in extra time that was disallowed and Arsenal going in the other end and winning it.

What the fuck are you babbling on about?

 

[deano ou812]

You just know he was going to give that as a pen,yes his foot was slightly high but dire also put his head down,Nico got a touch on the ball and I’m not even convinced he caught dire in the face,but this ref was up to no good the whole game giving them free kicks for non existent fouls..

 

[manimanc]

If Dier didn't have a head the size of a helium balloon the penalty doesn't get given.
VAR is absolutely shite, both when it goes for you and against you, it is slowly diluting the beautiful game.

 

[deano ou812]

If Dier didn't have a head the size of a helium balloon the penalty doesn't get given.
VAR is absolutely shite, both when it goes for you and against you, it is slowly diluting the beautiful game.

It’s destroying the spontaneity of celebrating goals for one,then this whole microscopic examination of incidents leading to pens or offsides that rule out goals,I thought it was just the premier league refs that were shit but tonight proved they aren’t..

 

[Feed the Elk]

The most painful thing is watching the ref see a still image which convinces them there's a foul. If he watched the whole play he would see Dier grab Nico which meant he could only stick a leg up to try and clear the ball. Without pulling Nico back, he gets there first and heads it. And there was no conclusive image he kicked Dier anyway!

When you watch players continuously con a ref through diving, with no VAR intervention it's all the more sickening to get a decision like that for a penalty.

Correct. Maybe it’s just the prem where they roll it back?

 

[stonerblue]

Well if that's a penalty, where you can win the ball despite being fouled yourself and not make contact with the opponent but still give away a penalty because of a high boot, despite the opponent stooping, then say goodbye to Haaland ever scoring a spectacular volley ever again.

Shall we just go with no challenges over shoulder height? And when we jump for headers we can all do so like penguins, arms by the side. Maybe players, if they can't reach the ball, try to head the opponent's body instead, and claim for a freeze frame decision in their favour? Worked tonight for Eric the con artist.

Classic Kane foul winning. Dyer knew exactly what he was doing.
Games fucked with decisions like that.

 

[sh249]

I’ve changed my mind. It’s wonderful …

 

[.db.]

@.db. @BlueHammer85 Another fucking VAR fuck up but I guess that will go down as another correct VAR decision for the stats

You obviously don’t understand what I’ve said.

The problem in football is not video technology, it’s the people running it who are the problem. Referee standards in this sport are appalling… not video technology itself.

Football was running like some skint backwater minority sport when it didn’t have video technology. It’s still a joke of a sport because the standard of officials are appalling for the size of the sport. But 21st Century elite football needs video technology as much as it needs a referee on the pitch, it just needs a massively better standard of officials full stop.

 

[.db.]

What the fuck are you babbling on about?

Read the post I replied to. He said video refs don’t have an impact on results in other sports where points are up at 20-30 a game. I provided an example on how they do, massively, even in a sport/league where referee standards are in another stratosphere to football. Yet overall, video refs are essential in that sport, just like they should be in football.

 

[Gazza]

Not seen the pen yet, but what was the sequence of events?
Did he need the psysio on to attend to his 'injury', if so, why was he on the pitch to take the penalty surely you have to go off for 30 seconds?

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

You obviously don’t understand what I’ve said.

The problem in football is not video technology, it’s the people running it who are the problem. Referee standards in this sport are appalling… not video technology itself.

Football was running like some skint backwater minority sport when it didn’t have video technology. It’s still a joke of a sport because the standard of officials are appalling for the size of the sport. But 21st Century elite football needs video technology as much as it needs a referee on the pitch, it just needs a massively better standard of officials full stop.

Except wherever VAR exists there is controversy. If its the people running it then it is 100% of them that can't run it.

 

[Roachy]

It’s destroying the spontaneity of celebrating goals for one,then this whole microscopic examination of incidents leading to pens or offsides that rule out goals,I thought it was just the premier league refs that were shit but tonight proved they aren’t..

You're right about the spontaneity being lost. You're also right about these miniscule events that are leading to some of the decisions being made. It really is shite at times.

 

[mancboy]

The discussion is the wrong one to have as someone said before it is NOT the technology that is at fault, it is the people in control of it, there is zero accountability, zero explanation and zero repercussions for continued cockups, refs are protected from up on high and the repercussions for their continued transgressions are a joke. Take that nonsense out yesterday look at the dippers game on tuesday night, ref gives a pen he knows is not a pen as he is looking right at it, the players rightfully complain and one gets booked for it, the pen is then overturned but the booking still stands, what kind of nonsense is that.

it doesnt matter how good the technology is, if you have the same arseholes using it that you had in place before and the same useless lot apologising for them then the same mistakes will continue to get made, they could absolutely be eradicated by the PL and PGMOL CHOOSE not to, why do you think that is.

 

[johnnytapia]

Read the post I replied to. He said video refs don’t have an impact on results in other sports where points are up at 20-30 a game. I provided an example on how they do, massively, even in a sport/league where referee standards are in another stratosphere to football. Yet overall, video refs are essential in that sport, just like they should be in football.

Video refs aren’t essential in any sport.
Never have been, never will be.
One of the beautiful things about football: it’s the same the world over, at whatever level. My lad plays on a Sunday. Two teams, one ref, two linesmen, one pitch, one ball. 90 minutes. No VAR. why? It’s not essential.
You crack with your rugby and listening to the ref. We don’t want or need it in football.

 

[.db.]

Except wherever VAR exists there is controversy. If its the people running it then it is 100% of them that can't run it.

There was more controversy before we had VAR in the sport though.

Every season you’d see a team not awarded a goal when the ball crossed the line, every week teams scored goals that were offside or had goals chalked off for offside that were onside, every week I watched challenges go in that went unpunished or dives that got opponents punished where I said ‘a video ref would clear that up in seconds’… because this sport at the elite level needs video technology.

The reason it came in was because everyone was sick to fucking death of this shit going on every week. It was years of moaning across world football, looking on at sports with less money and smaller exposure making football look like an amateur sport.

It’s like fans have just completely forgotten how backwards football was when there was no video tech. and convinced themselves everything was great… but the sport was even more of a joke then, than it is now.

These days, you’re talking of freak anomaly incidents where the technology doesn’t recognise that the ball has crossed the line or it gets it wrong that the player is onside/offside. More decisions where referees have to make judgements that aren’t black+white are amended to the correct decision thst would never have happened before video tech.

They get things wrong, even some video assistant refs and pitch refs looking at numerous replays from different speeds and different angles get them massively wrong, but again that’s because if the very poor standard of officials, not the technology. Even with top class officials it’s never going to be 100% right, but it’s a damn site better than the times before it was in the game.

 

[.db.]

Video refs aren’t essential in any sport.
Never have been, never will be.
One of the beautiful things about football: it’s the same the world over, at whatever level. My lad plays on a Sunday. Two teams, one ref, two linesmen, one pitch, one ball. 90 minutes. No VAR. why? It’s not essential.
You crack with your rugby and listening to the ref. We don’t want or need it in football.

Who’s this ‘we’?

In elite professional football for a good twenty years, fans across the world, players, coaches, ex-players and coaches, DoFs, boardrooms, referees themselves, ex-referees and anyone else that’s connected to the sport were crying out for video technology to be introduced in the sport.

Football at the elite level is far too fast and there’s far too much cheating for on-pitch officials to referee properly.

 

[the-ecstacy-of-eight]

Fucking hate how the monitor always starts with a freeze frame of a single angle showing incidents in the worst possible light and then just flicks forward and backwards on that singular view of the action. Where are all the other angles? How can the on-field ref know that he's not observing parallax error? VAR's a corrupt fucking shambles.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

There was more controversy before we had VAR in the sport though.

Every season you’d see a team not awarded a goal when the ball crossed the line, every week teams scored goals that were offside or had goals chalked off for offside that were onside, every week I watched challenges go in that went unpunished or dives that got opponents punished where I said ‘a video ref would clear that up in seconds’… because this sport at the elite level needs video technology.

The reason it came in was because everyone was sick to fucking death of this shit going on every week. It was years of moaning across world football, looking on at sports with less money and smaller exposure making football look like an amateur sport.

It’s like fans have just completely forgotten how backwards football was when there was no video tech. and convinced themselves everything was great… but the sport was even more of a joke then, than it is now.

These days, you’re talking of freak anomaly incidents where the technology doesn’t recognise that the ball has crossed the line or it gets it wrong that the player is onside/offside. More decisions where referees have to make judgements that aren’t black+white are amended to the correct decision thst would never have happened before video tech.

They get things wrong, even some video assistant refs and pitch refs looking at numerous replays from different speeds and different angles get them massively wrong, but again that’s because if the very poor standard of officials, not the technology. Even with top class officials it’s never going to be 100% right, but it’s a damn site better than the times before it was in the game.

I thunk you have rewritten history there. We had mistakes, we lived with them on the whole, moaned about the ref, no autopsies, no endless discussion around what is handball/foul/offside. Because it was subjective. "Which ref will we get" was the question because they all had different personalities. They reffed it the way they reffed it. It was judgement of any incident.

Then something like lampards non goal, or Maradonas handball would happen and everyone would call for video technology to stop those things in major tournaments and competitions.

So in their attempt to harmonise refs decisions and stop those massive clangers they introduced VAR. And they've gone deep on it, not just "was it a goal or not" (what we asked for) but redefining what a foul or handball is (and failing). Getting involved in everything.

And now we still have no harmony in referee decisions but we now also have confusion, not knowing what is right or wrong. Decision making has become a circus and it just wasn't that previously. It was more a feeling of the refs are shite, cheats, fat and slow. But we trusted the decision a lot more than now. VAR is something we can't see is part of it too.

Anyway it's called progress, and I don't mind being proven wrong as long as they get it right, but it's been years and years and years now of this circus. It isn't getting better there's no doubt about that.