Peter Anderson ⚽ Two weeks into the new season and the changes to VAR have become evident. 

It seems that finally the officiating authorities have managed to get a working model that appeals to the players and the fans. The "light touch" is clear, we are seeing fewer intrusions into our match viewing, and that can only be a good thing! Too many games were interrupted too many times and for too long last season. It seemed that the overly officious were given a new toy and they wanted to impose their play time on the rest of us. In the games I have watched so far this season we've had fewer interruptions and the interruptions that we have suffered have been shorter.

Last season more than two dozen goals were ruled to have been offside but under the new VAR directive 19 of those would have stood. Last season, famous last-minute winners were ruled offside because a toe or an armpit was deemed offside. This season, they are using "thicker lines" to mark the two lines of the attacker and last defender, and if these lines overlap or touch then the benefit of the doubt goes with the attacker. Finally, they have seen sense!

Regarding hand ball, the changes there are also, on the face of it, entirely sensible. If the handball in the action before scoring a goal is accidental, then the goal stands. Also, if the defender handles the ball and his hand is deemed to be in a reasonable position given his movement, then no handball is given. Handball is only given if the defender's hand is in an unreasonable position or he is trying to make himself bigger. That seems sensible to me also.

The question remains: why has it taken so long or the authorities to find a sensible use for VAR? Do they not believe in brainstorming? Surely if all the refs in the EPL got together to brainstorm proposals and to poke holes in them then we could have got here years ago? Some of the most ludicrous decisions of past seasons were so obviously wrong or muddle-headed that they seriously undermined our game. Last minute winning goals or equalisers were no longer being celebrated as the scorer and his fans knew that an exhaustive process would be carried out to see if a toe was offside anywhere in the build-up to the goal, removing at a stroke probably the greatest feeling in football. Also, the ruling out of goals because of an accidental handball in the build-up meant that if an attacker was put clean through with the goal at his mercy there was no point in him scoring if the ball had accidentally brushed his hand, or the hand of a team-mate, in the build-up. The best option was not score but to wheel away and start another phase of play. Crazy!

So, finally it seems that wiser heads have prevailed and a light touch approach with common sense is the order of the day. I haven't watched all the games or all the highlights and I know that some managers are complaining that fouls are being let go, but wasn't it always thus? Let me know in the comments below what you think of the new VAR system. Have you seen any problems this season, or do you foresee any major difficulties with the new approach?

Also, a date for your diaries: next Saturday evening 28th August 17:30, Liverpool v Chelsea. Given the start they have both had, this one should be a cracker.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

VAR

Peter Anderson ⚽ Two weeks into the new season and the changes to VAR have become evident. 

It seems that finally the officiating authorities have managed to get a working model that appeals to the players and the fans. The "light touch" is clear, we are seeing fewer intrusions into our match viewing, and that can only be a good thing! Too many games were interrupted too many times and for too long last season. It seemed that the overly officious were given a new toy and they wanted to impose their play time on the rest of us. In the games I have watched so far this season we've had fewer interruptions and the interruptions that we have suffered have been shorter.

Last season more than two dozen goals were ruled to have been offside but under the new VAR directive 19 of those would have stood. Last season, famous last-minute winners were ruled offside because a toe or an armpit was deemed offside. This season, they are using "thicker lines" to mark the two lines of the attacker and last defender, and if these lines overlap or touch then the benefit of the doubt goes with the attacker. Finally, they have seen sense!

Regarding hand ball, the changes there are also, on the face of it, entirely sensible. If the handball in the action before scoring a goal is accidental, then the goal stands. Also, if the defender handles the ball and his hand is deemed to be in a reasonable position given his movement, then no handball is given. Handball is only given if the defender's hand is in an unreasonable position or he is trying to make himself bigger. That seems sensible to me also.

The question remains: why has it taken so long or the authorities to find a sensible use for VAR? Do they not believe in brainstorming? Surely if all the refs in the EPL got together to brainstorm proposals and to poke holes in them then we could have got here years ago? Some of the most ludicrous decisions of past seasons were so obviously wrong or muddle-headed that they seriously undermined our game. Last minute winning goals or equalisers were no longer being celebrated as the scorer and his fans knew that an exhaustive process would be carried out to see if a toe was offside anywhere in the build-up to the goal, removing at a stroke probably the greatest feeling in football. Also, the ruling out of goals because of an accidental handball in the build-up meant that if an attacker was put clean through with the goal at his mercy there was no point in him scoring if the ball had accidentally brushed his hand, or the hand of a team-mate, in the build-up. The best option was not score but to wheel away and start another phase of play. Crazy!

So, finally it seems that wiser heads have prevailed and a light touch approach with common sense is the order of the day. I haven't watched all the games or all the highlights and I know that some managers are complaining that fouls are being let go, but wasn't it always thus? Let me know in the comments below what you think of the new VAR system. Have you seen any problems this season, or do you foresee any major difficulties with the new approach?

Also, a date for your diaries: next Saturday evening 28th August 17:30, Liverpool v Chelsea. Given the start they have both had, this one should be a cracker.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

5 comments:

  1. This is a great piece. I think VAR is vital to the modern game rather than having crucial issues decided by whim, poor judgement or capriciousness. But not the way they were previously handling it. It was easier last season for them to get away with it due to no fans. We will see how this season progresses. But I think refs really need to come down severely on bad tackles. Last night's sending off in the Leicester - West Ham game was most welcome. A dirty tackle like that deserves a straight red every time. I think Klopp's complaints after the Burnley game suggest he is a bit too worried about Virgil.

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  2. Chelsea set to buy Saul. Wasn't he in the Bible 📖 ❓ Lfc have a great first 11, but short on depth. Same 🔝 ⚃ as last season, will there be a change in positions ? Draw on Saturday. I thought it was the early kick off 📴 game.

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  3. Dunno. There's been a few agricultural challenges last weekend that raised an eyebrow. This new policy will favour the more physical types like Lukaku.

    What am I saying? Happy days!

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  4. I agree it is an improvement but not for me. As a one time regular home and away with Man Utd, in recent years since 2005 FC United of Mamchester we don't need or want any form of VAR. The technology is already there to decide if a ball is over the goal line, thus eliminating decisions of goals being allowed when they should not be and vice versa. To us on the terracing VAR is an abhorance, even in its reformed variant. It is uneccessary and unwanted by the fans, and the sooner it goes the better. I admit this is unlikely but if football is to remain a game worthy of the name then go it must. As for the offside it is an improvement on last season, that said we have a referree (human) and two linesmen to decide. That is the great thing about attending the game as oppossed to watching it on tv. How can a player play to the whistle when some bloke in a hotel can overrule the ref? Answer playing to the whistle is no longer central to the, what passes for, game. I just cannot imagine referees like Jack Taylor and the late Roger Kirkpatrick succumbing to handing over their authority on the pitch to a television set.

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