Another round of the A-League has concluded, and yet again it is not the high-scoring football nor the success of Australia’s youth that is making headlines all around the nation.
Instead, the mistakes of the video assistant referee (VAR) have left fans talking, after three controversial penalties were awarded to Adelaide United in a 3-2 victory at home on Friday night against league leaders Central Coast Mariners.
Understandably fans were left confused and angry at how the system that is meant to stop poor decisions did not appropriately intervene, with A-League referees boss Strebre Delovski even conceding that the wrong calls were made.
Since the beginning of the early 2000s, sport and technology have become successfully intertwined.
Whether it be cricket and their decision review system (DRS), tennis and their hawk-eye technology or rugby league and their video referees, these innovations have become a seamless part of the respective sports.
Football on the other hand has had many of its matches plagued with controversy relating to the VAR, with decisions that seemingly should be reversed not being reversed, and clear indiscretions being left unpunished.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
VAR made its worldwide top-flight debut on April 7, 2017 in a Round 26 A-League match between Melbourne City and Adelaide United.
Football in relation to tennis, which debuted its hawk-eye system at the 2006 US Open, were relatively late to the party, unsurprising for a sport so entrenched with deep-rooted traditions and a proven resistance to innovation.
Despite the fact that the technology used for hawk-eye would be extremely helpful to rule of goal-line decisions, it took a further six years, and one memorable incorrect decision in the 2010 World Cup between Germany and England, before it was implemented.
The eventual success of this innovation left fans eager to see if other facets of the game where regular poor decisions were consistently being made could be fixed by essentially a second pair of eyes.
But three years on and fans and pundits have already deemed the trial a failure, and one that the world game would be better off without.
This begs the question, why are other sports being improved by the assistance of technology, while football is suffering?
Football rules, unlike many other sports, are not based on definitives.
In tennis the ball is either in or out, and in cricket it is either pitching in line for a LBW decision or it isn’t.
This is why these systems work so well: there is a right and a wrong decision, with no ambiguity and no room for debate.
There is, however, too much subjectivity to FIFA’s laws of the game. A machine and cameras do not have the ability to properly adjudicate the rules.
The VAR is ultimately still relying on humans to operate it. Technology can provide a magnitude of camera angles and information but it all comes down to the operator to interpret it.
For this exact reason, the VAR will always attract controversy that simply will not exist in relation to the umpiring of sports such as cricket and tennis, where humans are not needed to aid in its administering of rules.
(Albert Perez/Getty Images)
The NRL’s video refereeing system does face many of the same challenges of the VAR, and its success since its inception in 1998 should give football fans hope.
While it has not always been perfect, with rugby league having its fair share of controversy relating to the system, it has got to the stage where fans have slowly gained confidence in the technology’s ability to work.
It is unrealistic to expect every decision to be correctly given. These referees are ultimately human and no matter the number of replays provided, they will sometimes make mistakes.
However over time the NRL has tweaked their processes, causing wrong decisions to become an anomaly.
The VAR system is vital in modern football, and it would be premature to abandon it after only a couple of seasons.
Football is not a game of exacts. So many of its rules are based on subjectivity and human interpretation, and while this is the case, the VAR will never produce the correct decision 100 per cent of the time.
Before its implementation in 2017, every weekend’s football news would be filled with discussions about wrong offside calls and missed red cards. This is now rarely the case.
While Friday’s game produced some controversial decisions, when looking at it, these matches that are defined by wrong decisions are becoming less frequent.
The facts prove that the VAR is, in most cases, producing the correct decision.
It must be given time, like the NRL gave their video referees, to get better and more consistent in its adjudications.
Football is moving in the right direction, and while it may never be perfect, the VAR is here to stay.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Tiger you are absolutely correct. Step 1. Ditch the the contracted refs arrangement. There are some fnef fine NPL refs. Give them the education and give them their shot. Ref prom relegation. That will keep them on their toes
Buddy
Roar Rookie
F.I.L - I often watch football with the sound down so that I don't have to suck up the crass type of comments that you refer to. I wonder if we had a fan poll of the best player to play in the A league to date what the top 10 would look like? I know it would be in danger of being a popularity poll if people vote for their own players but I'd like to think there are enough football lovers that come on here that can get well beyond that type of behaviour. Ninkovic has been with us for quite a few seasons now and been very consistent as well as having some silky skills so I get why they might make the comments but have to consider the names you mentioned plus Broich and Berisha, Fornarolli of course - and they fawn over him whenever he is playing. Interesting idea for a poll though, I wonder if anyone might take up the challenge?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
What a bllody rip off! As a Newcastle supporter, VAR or not, it can still "break down" at the right time to allow an offside goal that decides a Grand Final, I believe it's like owning a Porsche. Awesome bit of kit but if the driver is rubbish what's the point of having it?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Dead right Buddy Sydney have been a good side you have to admit that if you have even the slightest modicum of football intelligence. What this competition does not need is year after year of Sydney dominance. Not good for tv viewers not good for attendance. As for the commentary team, my old boy and I call them the Sydney Cheer Squad. I have to wonder if they are paid up shirt wearing members. The comment that really got riled up " Ninkovic the greatest player to play in the A-League". And where does that leave Shinji Ono, Del Piero, Dwight York, the Spaniards from Adelaide's premiership team and a long list of bloody good footballers. One Eyed commentary is cheap, crass and unintelligent. Give me Adam P, Zappers and Archie any time.
dennis
Guest
It already did at Newcastle a few years ago when Melbourne Victory got home by an offside goal.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
possibly 2 youth players :)
At work
Roar Rookie
That $100k could be spent on an additional youth player in the squad. So it's a waste of money putting it towards VAR
Mark
Guest
Give it time? It has had what? 3-4 years? If it can’t be made to work in that time, it’s not going to be.
William Makepeace
Roar Rookie
I honestly like some many of the ideas that you have put up here! I totally agree that it should be the referee who goes over to the monitor, because it is unfair that the on field referee often cops it when it is the VAR controller who makes the call!
William Makepeace
Roar Rookie
For me Marcel cricket has been greatly improved overall by the DRS. It is easy to remember the times where the technology wrong, but we tend to forget the numerous occasions that a howler has been overturned which could have ruined a match! The VAR is the same, if we let it continue to evolve, and consistently improve the referees training, I honestly see it improving drastically!
William Makepeace
Roar Rookie
I certainly agree with you Stevo that the VAR certainly isn’t without consequences. In my opinion it is a case of the good ways out the bad, and with more alterations and training for referees it will gradually get even better.
Waz
Roar Rookie
no, No, NO ..... Noooooooooooooooooooooo ...!! VAR is a shambles. No more time, NO MORE!
Knocka
Roar Rookie
If the VAR is there to stop a clearly incorrect decision, then the VAR ref should look at the video of the incident once in real time, and if he/she cannot see on that single viewing in real time whether the field referee and the assistant referees were clearly wrong or missed something, then obviously there was no clear mistake. End of story. The VAR should not be used to forensically review the incident from multiple angles for endless minutes to see what happened. THAT IS NOT WHAT SPORT IS ABOUT! VAR kills the excitement of a goal and is killing the game (not just football, but rugby and cricket as well). I am a human, and I accept that another human has been appointed to referee or umpire a game and will occasionally get it wrong. Its only a game and yes it can be disappointing for a player or coach, but having celebrations and the flow of the game destroyed by endless replay examining whether someone was a centimeter offside or a player handled the ball to their advantage is killing the game for the audience. One quick review in real time is the maximum that should be allowed. If it isn’t obvious that an error has been made, then move on, or preferably ditch VAR and show some sportsmanship!
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
i saw a stat the other day that since VAR has been introduced in football, only 5% of decisions that were incorrect have been overturned
Marcel
Guest
Apart from Tennis....no other sport has been improved by technology. DRS is a farce, ball tracking visibly inaccurate and the utterly insane situation were a decision can be both in and out depending on the Umpire's call. I don't follow League but the newspapers suggest it's Bunker is a joke. We have seen plenty enough of VAR to make a judgement...the kindest assessment is that has merely exchanged one set of problems for a another. Ditch it now. If it were a product line it would have been taken off the shelves after 6 mths.
Tigertown
Guest
We need referees to be held accountable for their poor actions. Imagine such controversies happening in a grand final!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Watching last night's match, they had many cameras covering lots of angles, and they had a decent referee, it seemed. Many matches have poor camera coverage, and there's a few poor refs around. They can't even get objective decisions like who put the ball out, right. Fix the referee problem first. Send them back to school if that's what it needs. Then we can talk about VAR. Give it time? Haven't we already done that? and we're just bumbling along with the same problem - it's the person in the mix what's the problem.
Ad-O
Guest
My reaction to any referring controversy is the affected team shouldn't have put the ref in a position to make a bad call in the first place. Trace back almost any poor decision and you will still find a player or team that made a mistake which led to it. There's still the odd clanger, but then there's the fans natural reaction to forget every bad call that goes for them and obsess over the ones that go against.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
$100,000 a season is what its costing clubs
Chas west
Guest
The VAR has been an unnecessary financial burden on the sport as far as its worth to the game it concerned so far.