Did you guys hear about the VAR "outage" during the Barcelona Rayo Vallecano Match? What a shambles.
There were problems at Vallecas
www.barcablaugranes.com
It's hard to put into words the reaction to what happened here.
Pedri says that during the game he did not know whether VAR was working or not, a situation he feels can’t be repeated in Spain’s top flight.
"I didn’t know when there was or wasn’t a VAR. At first they said there wasn’t one, halfway through the match there was, then again there wasn’t... We have to improve it so that the competition is much more serious."
Yes Pedri, I would agree that the footballing competition needs to be more serious. It was serious and well functioning before VAR was introduced. You would think that the VAR outage would render the result illegal. If the match had been contractually agreed upon under the conditions of having VAR, then VAR failing and not being able to be used would violate the contract.
But it's as if nothing matters anymore, VAR not working one half, then working another half, then not working again, but on we go like nothing happened.
The reasons for the interruption of the VAR system in the Rayo Vallecano – Barcelona match, which ended 1-1 on August 31 in the third round of La Liga, have become clear. During the first half, Barcelona won a penalty that Lamine Yamal converted into a goal. However, the match referee, Mateo...
telegrafi.com
Think about how much electrical power is wasted by maintaining VAR throughout the world, especially in places like Spain that maybe don't have the best electrical supply.
Rayo Vallecano were left seething as a VAR failure meant Lamine Yamal's first-half penalty could not be reviewed during Sunday's 1-1 draw with Barcelona.
www.espn.com
^^This article points out that MEDIAPRO, the company who administers VAR in LaLiga, could not even determine the cause of the outage.
Yamal's penalty put Barça 1-0 up and led to furious scenes on the sidelines as Rayo coach Iñigo Pérez contested the ruling.
"I'm ashamed of my reaction on the touchlines after the penalty was awarded," Pérez said after the game in an interview with broadcaster DAZN. "It was the result of frustration. Referees make mistakes and that's OK. What bothers me is that today the players had five minutes of VAR and five minutes without it and so on."
Perez went on to say in no uncertain terms -
"Everyone that's played knows the influence it has on the players, referees and assistants now... It's a different game."
^^It is a different game, and it took this VAR outrage for Perez to express that. The game that we love, or loved, no longer exists. This is obviously an untenable situation, to have our "football" replaced with this charade.
Pérez also conceded the issue could have been "our club's fault" as he suggested games should be halted if VAR fails in the future.
"We need better protocol for these situations," he added. "My anger is over the lack of protocol and the lack of efficiency.
"It's not a good image for our league. If VAR is not working, we should suspend the game until it is."
The fact that the match doesn't automatically get suspended, or delayed, with the monitor not working shows that there is no backup plan to what would happen in such a scenario. Why for example couldn't they just use an alternate battery powered monitor or tablet to have the ref review the decision in the event that the main monitor goes out?
This reinforces how poorly designed VAR is and how it is so overly relied on that everyone loses their minds when it stops working. It is a complete embarrassment for something like this to happen and to see the kind of chaos it causes.
