Video Assistant Referee used for the first time by FIFA at Club World Cup

For the first time ever, a Video Referee system was used in a football match during the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final clash between Atletico Nacional of Colombia and the Kagshima Antlers from Japan.

The technology was used in the 29th minute when Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai stopped the match after deciding to review a decision for a possible penalty to the Kagshima Antlers.

The use of the system left viewers, commentators, players, and coaches confused when the referee chose to stop Atletico from taking a throw in to allow the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system to be used.

Initially referee Viktor Kassai had ruled play on. At the next stoppage of play, Kassai, who did not see the incident, ran to the touchline. He took around half a minute to watch a replay of what happened before pointing to the spot and awarding a penalty.

This left Atletico fuming and Kagshima celebrating after the decision to award the penalty, with Shouma Doi netting them the opening goal to win 3-0.

The VAR introduction into live matches was announced by FIFA on June 2. Six countries had agreed to be the first the technology, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and the USA.

The technology will be introduced to domestic matches in 2017 after it is determined that the system is successful by both FIFA and IFAB.

The VAR system is an option when an incident occurs, and the referee on-field asks the VAR to review the incident. The VAR then reports back their view to the on-field referee who then can decide whether to accept the recommendation of the VAR or the referee can decide to review the incident himself on a monitor on the side of the field of play and take the appropriate action.

According to FIFA, the VAR is to be used on goals, penalties, red cards and to ensure the correct player is receiving the card.

The use of technology has been vital in sports such as cricket, rugby league and rugby union, where the decisions can be changed without stopping the play mid-stream and can be done so straight away after an incident and it can be reviewed without hold up.

In football it cannot. An incident might happen in the 29th minute of a match but if the ball stays in play until the 33rd minute, the referee cannot hold up play to check for a decision like this.

Should the VAR get involved does the referee let play go on until the ball goes out of play or if the referee wants to make his own decision off the replays does he stop the momentum of the game, view the replay then decide there was no foul or goal then restart play having broken the momentum of the game.

The way the system will work still hasn’t been decided on by FIFA and of course the system will develop as it is only in its infancy of being used.

The question now remains do we need this technology in football or sport in general?

To me the answer is a mixed one. Yes, we need some technology in sport. The technology used to determine whether or not a goal has been scored as the ball crosses the line looks to be a good implementation.

But is the VAR right in football? The answer is no. Football is a game of momentum and stopping the momentum kills the game and fans do not want stop start football games.

Take the NRL Bunker for example. The NRL has spent millions of dollars on technology but ultimately it is going to be the person using the technology’s comprehension of the rules that makes the decision and if that interprets a rule differently to what it is meant to be the decision is going to be wrong.

The Bunker has seen NRL officials afraid to make a decision and with the technology there it is going to become more and more a situation where decisions are not made on-field but by others sitting either away from the stadium.

Cricket has had one of the more successful uses of technology but now the use of technology is becoming overbearing on umpires who now are less aggressive in their decision making relying on players to use their reviews if they want a decision changed.

The basic third umpire system is the best in world sport; in a basic system the umpire can send up either a stumping or a run out appeal “upstairs” and the third umpire has one of two options to choose from either OUT or NOT OUT.

Now with DRS, the system is developing and the umpires are now having to make a judgement off the technology shown which umpire Nigel Llong proved last year can be a dangerous thing when he had to interpret whether Nathan Lyon had hit the ball using two pieces of technology that essentially contradicted each other.

Sport needs technology but not at the risk of match officials becoming obsolete. When referees or Umpires start out they are taught to referee to what they see and not what they missed, with technology coming into the game the referees are now second guessing themselves and this is becoming a problem.

It’s a danger that could come into football, a game where momentum and tempo is key and stoppages are to be avoided.