A-League coaches and players are comfortable with match referees assuming greater responsibility, after the FFA opted to temporarily suspend the contentious Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.
VAR, which was first used in the A-League in 2017, won’t be utilised for the restarted competition’s remaining home and away games.
The FFA will make a decision at a later date about whether it will be reinstated for the finals series.
The system has generated plenty of debate over controversial decisions and how long it has taken for some of them to be reached.
This season’s revised handball law and how it has been interpreted by the VAR created a firestorm of chatter before the season was suspended back in March.
FFA head of leagues Greg O’Rourke said the decision over VAR was made after considering a number of factors.
“Our aim has always been to improve decision-making accuracy and work concurrently with IFAB (International Football Association Board) to improve fan engagement by allowing referee audio broadcast,” O’Rourke said.
“It is still our ambition to pioneer the broadcast of referee communications, along with many leagues around the world, but is still in development mode for the global game.”
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica wasn’t too bothered by the suspension of the VAR.
“The referees have got to make a decision now, so it’s fair for both teams,” Corica said on Thursday,
“There’s been positives and negatives there’s been controversy either way
“There’s been disallowed goals and they’ve got it right or wrong
“The handball decisions as well which everyone is still a little bit confused about
“So now there’s no VAR and the referees have got to make a decision and that’s fine with me, no problems.”
Brisbane Roar and New Zealand international midfielder Matt Ridenton said not having the VAR wouldn’t change things too much.
“It will probably mean the ref has a bit more control of the game,” Ridenton said.
“As a player, it’ll probably make the game flow a bit better. We’ll just play our usual game and go with the referee’s decision.”
The FFA also confirmed some other changes.
Substitutions will increase from three to five and technical areas will be extended to allow form social distancing.
The usual pre-match walkouts, line-ups, handshakes and coin toss procedure will be suspended.
The toss will be conducted an hour before kick-off and teams and match officials will enter the field from separate tunnels or at staggered times.
Stephen WHATLEY
Guest
Get rid of it permanently ! The game was better without it! There will always be controversy its part of the game that's football.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Cynical me says this is cost cutting but interesting it is framed as refs taking on greater responsibility of the game. This is the same responsibility refs had before. Can fans handle a contentious call going against their team? Given before and during VAR, probably not.
At work
Roar Rookie
While it's clearly a decision based on saving money; what's interesting with this decision is that VAR mainly hurts the viewer who is live at the game, whereas the home viewer has the benefit of replays and commentary telling us what's going on. Considering the next month of football will have capped crowds and potentially games behind closed doors, it's true benefit won't really be realised.
DL2191
Guest
So good! VAR Blows.