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Premier League Set To Trial VAR In September

Premier League Set To Trial VAR In September

The referee system was in place during the World Cup but Premier League clubs voted to delay it for a year last season.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

The Premier League is set to do a trial of VAR, in an attempt to work out whether it should be used permanently, starting with the 3pm kick offs on September 15th.

Last season Premier League teams voted against implementing VAR for the 2018/19 season. The video assistant referee system had been trialled during some FA Cup and Carabao Cup games last season but clubs decided to wait a year for it to develop further.

Clubs in other European leagues decided to embrace the technology and it was the star at the World Cup, even better than Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe.

Now the Professional Game Match Officials Limited want to prove that the system is fit for purpose for England's top tier in time for next season.

They will start trials in the league by having it at all the 3pm kick offs on September 15th at the VAR hub at Stockley Park, near Heathrow to see if the base can handle decisions from multiple games at once.

The referees at the games will have no live links to the VAR officials for the trial.

Everyone loved VAR at the World Cup. Image: PA Images
Everyone loved VAR at the World Cup. Image: PA Images

According to the Telegraph, "A Premier League source said referees have been encouraged by the use of the technology at three recent EFL Cup matches at Brighton, Fulham and Leicester."

Former Premier League officials Mike Jones and Neil Swarbrick will be in charge of the tests and Swarbrick has been open about being disappointed that the system wasn't already being used in the league.

According to Sky their sources understand that the Premier League believe their decision to delay the introduction of VAR for another year as their officials got better used to the system, and its issues were ironed out, was the correct one.

VAR in action. Image: PA Images
VAR in action. Image: PA Images

They also, reportedly, have some concerns that the awarding of France's penalty in the World Cup final might have lost the system some supporters.

VAR was far from perfect during the World Cup, the incident in the final and England failing to get penalties in their opener against Tunisia were examples of controversy, but overall it was a success in Russia.

Like it or not it seems VAR is on the way to the Premier League.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football News, Premier League, England, World Cup, VAR

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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