VAR Discussion Thread - 2023/24 | PL clubs to vote on whether to scrap VAR (pg413)

[SkyBlueFlux]

Not anytime soon I’m afraid.

After their meeting in January, IFAB said:

“The idea of the countdown clock had been proposed in 2017 but has been ruled against, while FIFA's new guidelines will reportedly suggest competitions follow the approach to added time shown in the Qatar World Cup.”

Looks like I'm going to have to book some anger management sessions :)

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I’m going to sound like a broken record. But all this talk about tweaking the offside rule, VAR comms, etc…

When are they going to fix the fucking timekeeping?!

It is so… fucking… easy… to fix. Just stop the fucking clock when the ball is dead and play a fixed amount of time. We’ve had this technology for like a hundred years. Why do we persist with halves of arbitrary length when the solution is so fucking obvious? I’m going to lose my goddamn mind if somebody doesn’t fix it soon. If I have to watch another season where a Forest player is injured for 2 minutes of the 3 added on and the ref still blows on 92.55, I swear it’s gonna make me pack it all in. Then the next day Arsenal get 52 minutes added because Jesus needs a concussion check in the 2nd minute.

I would estimate the timekeeping completely ruins about a quarter of the games I watch. Because one team is either rolling around playing for time, or the ref puts some absurd made up number on the board.

Please, for the love of god, fix it.

Of course I know the reason they won’t is it allows them to manipulate the “excitement levels” to their desire. But I’m so fucking sick of it.

I can't see it getting 'fixed' soon. Rather it will be 'improved' to manipulate results even further. Is there a page within the LotG where it is written how much time is 'added on' and why, or does it say the ref stops his stop watch and starts it again when he blows for a restart. Oh for the day when a signal is given by the ref to stop the stadium clock and another signal to restart it, followed by a game carrying on à la Rugby where a 'fix' to an injury, feigned injury, cheating by a player to piss time up the wall is applied.

i would also think it was a major step forward in offiicating a game where yellow cards were handed out for timewasting at the same ratio as cards for physical and technical fouls. It would be the first question I would ask of refs - Why did X not get a card for timewasting when it was obvious to all and sundry at home and in the crowd as to what he was doing? Second question would be: Do you not think you are cheating by not applying the LotG in this respect? Third question: Why do you always seem to wait until after the 80th minute to penalise a goalkeeper for doing what he has done since the second minute?

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Not anytime soon I’m afraid.

After their meeting in January, IFAB said:

“The idea of the countdown clock had been proposed in 2017 but has been ruled against, while FIFA's new guidelines will reportedly suggest competitions follow the approach to added time shown in the Qatar World Cup.”

Was there any explanation as to why they chose not to implement a countdown clock? Or are we to go with the idea that it would take away an element of manipulation that is afforded referees?

 

[kaz7]

I can't see it getting 'fixed' soon. Rather it will be 'improved' to manipulate results even further. Is there a page within the LotG where it is written how much time is 'added on' and why, or does it say the ref stops his stop watch and starts it again when he blows for a restart. Oh for the day when a signal is given by the ref to stop the stadium clock and another signal to restart it, followed by a game carrying on à la Rugby where a 'fix' to an injury, feigned injury, cheating by a player to piss time up the wall is applied.

i would also think it was a major step forward in offiicating a game where yellow cards were handed out for timewasting at the same ratio as cards for physical and technical fouls. It would be the first question I would ask of refs - Why did X not get a card for timewasting when it was obvious to all and sundry at home and in the crowd as to what he was doing? Second question would be: Do you not think you are cheating by not applying the LotG in this respect? Third question: Why do you always seem to wait until after the 80th minute to penalise a goalkeeper for doing what he has done since the second minute?

Unless you are eddie then you get several cards a season even though the slow build up starting with him is how we have always played for yrs , the refs will let everyone else get away with murder

 

[Iassel]

I’m going to sound like a broken record. But all this talk about tweaking the offside rule, VAR comms, etc…

When are they going to fix the fucking timekeeping?!

It is so… fucking… easy… to fix. Just stop the fucking clock when the ball is dead and play a fixed amount of time. We’ve had this technology for like a hundred years. Why do we persist with halves of arbitrary length when the solution is so fucking obvious? I’m going to lose my goddamn mind if somebody doesn’t fix it soon. If I have to watch another season where a Forest player is injured for 2 minutes of the 3 added on and the ref still blows on 92.55, I swear it’s gonna make me pack it all in. Then the next day Arsenal get 52 minutes added because Jesus needs a concussion check in the 2nd minute.

Because broadcasters pay as absolute fortune to show the football and want predictable periods of play so they can sell advertising time.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

The egoistical refs in the EPL would love this spotlight. Like in the film ‘Kes‘ they will end up awarding and taking the spot kicks.

We would no doubt see an emergence of would-be but failed thespians. They would stand, feet apart on the half way line: To be, or not to be, a penalty. That is the question. And yes, it's another fuckin' pen to the Rags! or alternatively, Is this a City goal I see before me? Sorreeeeeeee, guys, someone's toe clipping was in an offside position! No goal!

 

[BeerIsTheBest]

We would no doubt see an emergence of would-be but failed thespians. They would stand, feet apart on the half way line: To be, or not to be, a penalty. That is the question. And yes, it's another fuckin' pen to the Rags! or alternatively, Is this a City goal I see before me? Sorreeeeeeee, guys, someone's toe clipping was in an offside position! No goal!

A bit like ‘All the world's a stage (for me) and all the men (and women) merely players.’

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

Because broadcasters pay as absolute fortune to show the football and want predictable periods of play so they can sell advertising time.

I never got this argument. How does a stop clock prevent this at all? Adverts before the game, adverts at half-time, adverts at the end of the game... so what changes? Nobody is saying the games will be longer, they can adjust the clock to make sure the ball is in play on average for the same amount of time, and there will be less downtime because teams won't be incentivised to dick about wasting time. That means you can fit more actual football into the same space of time. How are Sky Sports benefiting from showing footage of players rolling around on the ground for 5+ minutes? It is wasted airtime for them.

If anything, a stop clock gives more chance for advertisers to cram their bullshit in, look at the NFL to see how little this argument makes sense. They have always had a stop clock, and it is the most densely advertised and richest sport in the world.

 

[Stephen230]

Was there any explanation as to why they chose not to implement a countdown clock? Or are we to go with the idea that it would take away an element of manipulation that is afforded referees?

Gianni Infantino said after FIFA’s AGM in March:

“Pierluigi Collina already explained our concern in this regard at the World Cup. But we won’t change the rules, we won’t stop the clock. The laws are universal and must be universally accepted”, he commented. This rejection had already been made palpable at the previous IFAB meeting in January.

I think the main concern ( or excuse if you like ) is something they are always very vocal about, which is keeping one set of the laws of the game, that can be applied to all games of football, at all levels, anywhere in the world.

You could in theory have amateur football referees using a stopwatch. But it would be pretty impractical.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Gianni Infantino said after FIFA’s AGM in March:

“Pierluigi Collina already explained our concern in this regard at the World Cup. But we won’t change the rules, we won’t stop the clock. The laws are universal and must be universally accepted”, he commented. This rejection had already been made palpable at the previous IFAB meeting in January.

I think the main concern ( or excuse if you like ) is something they are always very vocal about, which is keeping one set of the laws of the game, that can be applied to all games of football, at all levels, anywhere in the world.

You could in theory have amateur football referees using a stopwatch. But it would be pretty impractical.

The laugh is that the universal set of laws are not universally applied!