Incensed Central Coast coach Paul Okon has savaged the video assistant referee for turning fans off football and pledged to appeal red cards dealt to Wout Brama and Jake McGing.
Both Okon and the Mariners’ home crowd exploded in Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to Western Sydney, when two second-half yellow cards to Brama and McGing were upgraded to reds following VAR reviews.
The McGing incident in particular was a mystery, his largely innocuous 78th-minute challenge on Kearyn Baccus met with a caution and then, after intervention from upstairs, inexplicably judged to be a harsher offence.
In slow motion, Brama’s 62nd-minute from-behind tackle on Roly Bonevacia appeared to have grounds for dismissal, though Okon felt it was not clear enough to fall within the VAR’s jurisdiction of a “clear and obvious error”.
“If you came to this game tonight and you left here no longer in love with football, who could blame you?” Okon said.
“”I think it’s probably what everyone is talking about and that’s not the reason why people are turning up watching – it’s not why we turn up to play and coach.
“Before it wasn’t there and everyone was for it, but if you’re going to get it wrong consistently.”
Okon lamented he still didn’t understand the VAR’s “grey area” and argued Raul Llorente’s yellow-card tackle on McGing was more violent than either of his players’.
“I just don’t understand it,” he said.
“If both challenges were violent I think we would have seen protests from the Wanderers players or the Wanderers bench … there was no reaction. The reaction came from the gentlemen sitting upstairs.
“If you’re going to send off players for those two challenges you’d be sending off players every minute.”
Inconsistencies with the on-trial VAR and the lengthy time of some reviews have been major talking points this season.
The Mariners must now navigate uncharted territory in appealing not just a referee decision, but a VAR review.
“The real upsetting thing is we lose these two players for our next game which is totally unfair,” Okon said.
“Hopefully FFA will review it and admit they weren’t sending offs, and allow the two players to play in our next game away to Adelaide.
“We will (appeal it), certainly. It’s within our rights to do that. Hopefully people who hold the power will bring it to justice.”
punter
Guest
Lets not forget Sam Kerr beating that guy with the tattoos as sports person of the year.
bobbym
Guest
Agrree have stopped going to games.
tommaso
Guest
how the VAR didn't pick the penalty error call for handball for the Adelaide v Newcastle game is a worry and the VAR should be scrapped for that alone as there is no point having VAR if they don't make the right call
Rolly
Guest
Hate it get rid of it ASAP .its stupid it's ruining our game .i am more than happy with the referee on the field making all the decisions unilaterally .this is from a supporters point of view . ARE YOU LiSTENING Gallop .
shirtpants
Roar Guru
The use of technology has come about from; 1. Coaches and managers constant berating of officials for poor decisions. I understand that especially in a low scoring game such as football that this can be the difference between winning and drawing/drawing and losing etc but in the course of a season, it'll balance out. Take the good with the bad. 2. Money invested in the game. WIth so much money at stake (world cup qualifications, promotion/relegation and money invested by sponsorship, betting industry and tv rights) they all want the right result to get the maximum out of their investments. VAR won't go away, it'll just get tinkered with until the end of time. The most attractive thing about playing football growing up was that from the local league in regional australia to the professional leagues, is that it was exactly the same; 2 linesman, 1 refereee, one ball, same size fields (within regualations etc) and now it has lost that.
Daniboi
Guest
Kangajets Completely agree. City got a goal via the VAR against Sydney and if it meant getting rid of it they can keep that goal.
Fadida
Guest
I want it scrapped, but I'm not going to boycott the league because of it
Kangajets
Guest
Daniboi It’s making lots of people fall out of love with football. My team the jets have been the beneficiary of var calls but I want it scrapped. It’s just another way for referrers to make mistakes. Let’s just accept the decision on the field and get on with it . As if ffa can afford to make this A league season more tedious , the var is adding to the negative vibe .
Griffo
Roar Guru
+2 Waz, especially last paragraph and the whinging...
Nemesis
Guest
Yes. The ref thought it warranted a YC based on the information his eyes & brain processed in real time. Then he had a look at the video & he saw something new that made him change his mind. That happens in every match with fans. We think "that's not off-side", then we see the slow motion replay & we shut up & quietly say to the empty TV room "yeah ref was right".
Nemesis
Guest
I never said that at all. I actually agree with your opinion about McGing. But, I'm mature enough to realise a group of people can look at an incident on a football pitch and reach multiple conclusions about what happened. - no foul, play on - foul, no card - foul, YC - foul, RC No one is right. No one is wrong. You seem to think you are right & the ref is wrong. I find that absolutely ridiculous. Unless you're a juvenile, you should be aware that adults can reach different decisions when they view the same information.
Chopper
Guest
Your wrong Nemesis the ref thought the foul warranted a yellow card. The video ref thought it warranted a red after he decided to look at it. He was having a cup of tea when Llorente crashed through his CCM player obviously because he missed that one.
Square Nostrils
Guest
According to the following article FIFA and IFAB will make a decision on the trial in March 2018, including whether it will be used at the World Cup. Referee boss Ben Wilson thinks it can work, but is taking too long and needs tweaks and maybe providing supporters with audio of the decision-making process. Either way were stuck with it till March next year. On a personal level what I didn't realise was the degree of human error still capable of being involved despite technology. This line from the article reflects IMO one of the worrying aspects of VAR:- "Of the weekend controversies, Wilson revealed that the VAR could not conclusively rule Baba Diawara off-side for Adelaide’s opening goal against Western Sydney, because of camera angles and a skerrick of doubt that saw the VAR defer to giving the advantage to the attacking team." Plus the possibility that referees may get lazy over reliant on the VAR, rather than their own decision making ability. FIFA, IFAB as Ben Wilson says are conservative bodies, March looms as a pivotal moment for football. https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/aleague-director-of-referees-ben-wilsons-verdict-on-var-over-controversial-weekend/news-story/a4ffb32eadd75fc3d65fe39782c7972d
Daniboi
Guest
I’m not falling out of love with football. I refuse to support the garbage the game has become as a result of the VAR. I’ve always been willing to accept referee mistakes. The VAR is garbage. Not because of teething problems but because of what it simply is. Until the FFA unconditionally scrap it I won’t be going to any more games and won’t renew my family’s membership next year.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
If wet days, hot days, RLWC, ashes, womens BBL, AFLX and poor governance were not enough, we now have the VAR. Is there no end to the impediments, constraints, trials and tribulations put before football's progress in this country?
Lionheart
Guest
Shaun Evans is a terrible referee, over policing and no care for allowing the game to flow. If all referees were like that, ok, but he's an exception (on field or as VAR) and he is doing the damage because his calls are inconsistent among the referee group. I heard Bozza say that the dangerous tackles have to be taken out of our game, and I'm all for that but Evans seems to be the only ref running this campaign.
C
Guest
introduction of this review system was never going to work from the beginning introducing more layers of consideration of aspects of mistakes by player's and officials into the decision making will allow for more errors we are currently observing all discussion now is about decision making never had this review system since inception game went along ok yes there were significant errors along the way but they were accepted as part and parcel of the game the current position is ludicrous and unsustainable
Waz
Guest
Agree. FIFA seem dead-set on using this at the World Cup and maybe better, more experienced referees wouldn’t make such a hash of it? As it stands in Australia it’s turning nasty, reports of thousands of Mariners fans walking out in disgust at last nights game may be exaggerated (Mid?) but it’s certsinly believable and if it’s true, how do Mariners get them back again? Twitter’s on fire with the stuff, as are the popular fan blog sites - it’s definitely not what we need. I don’t support the VAR concept, mainly because I don’t believe it can be implemented without ruining the natural flow of the game and the suspense, passion, and spontaneity of the game. But maybe it’s just Australian referees are so cr*p? But if that is the case, we need time and investment into referees - it’s not something that can be fixed overnight.
Fadida
Guest
There he is, classic Fuss. If you haven't been a ref you can't comment. If you haven't been a NT coach you can't comment. You've never been on the board of FFA but I see you pass comment every day. I see you comment in tactics, and yet you aren't a coach. You analyse MV's poor season, and yet you aren't their coach. I could go on. Hypocrite. Only in your little world could someone say a clear refereeing mistake was not a mistake. You stay in your basement gathering stats (which you cant use as you aren't an official statistician). We are going swimming.
Daniboi
Guest
As I said yesterday on another post. I’m not setting foot into a stadium until that VAR is gone. I’ll tolerate goal line technology but the VAR is not killing football as a spectacle, it’s killed it.