By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – Just a few days before the video assistant referee system is expected to be given a provisional thumbs-up by football’s lawmakers, debate is raging yet again about when and how it should be used – this time in England where VARs have only just started to be trialled in certain cup games.
Penalties are one of four specific criteria under which VARs are supposed to come into play along with disputed goals, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity.
Yet the system was turned on its head in Wednesday night’s FA Cup replay between Chelsea and Norwich when the referee waved away what look like a certain spotkick for the home side and declined to review the decision, causing complete bemusement.
Video referees sitting in a studio away from the pitch are supposed to point out clear and obvious errors and suggest the match official looks at a replay when necessary. But for some reason, that didn’t happen in this instance and instead Chelsea’s Willian was booked for diving.
“If you watch the replay you see very clearly it is a penalty,” fumed Chelsea manager Antonio Conte after his team squeezed into the fourth round thanks to a nervy penalty shootout victory after extra time over their plucky Championship opponents. “The mistake wasn’t of the ref on the pitch but the person watching. When you see this, you have to call the referee.”
Former England striker Alan Shearer, one of the UK’s best-known television pundits, added: “Who on earth is looking at that screen and doesn’t think it is a penalty? Shambles.”
Wednesday’s confusion was the latest in a series of controversies in countries like Germany and Italy – and more recently England – where VAR has been under experimentation pending its global introduction.
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino led calls for VARs to be used in league games after his team had to stomach a last-minute equaliser by Watford last weekend that clearly struck the hand of goalscorer Abdoulaye Doucoure. Swansea were also deprived of two crucial points when a handball from Newcastle’s Mohamed Diame in his own box appeared to be missed by officials.
The problem is that for every wrong decision on the pitch where video replays are badly needed, there are countless other examples of the system being used incorrectly. Such inconsistency will have to be examined when members of the International FA Board, guardians of the laws of the game, meet in Zurich on Monday ahead of their main session in early March.
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