Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Premier League, VAR, Football
Marcus Chan
The Premier League are planning on making a major change to the video assistant referee(VAR) in a bid to improve transparency to fans.
According to The Times, a plan is in place to publicly release conversations held between referees and VAR officials during a game.
The main aim is to help fans get an understanding of the process of how VAR make decisions and will hopefully help improve transparency to fans.
Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive has said that he has received strong backing for the idea.
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He said: “There is a general view that [releasing the audio] is a good thing. There is a desire to be more open with fans about referees’ decision-making and how we do that precisely we need to work out.”
The concept has already been trialed by the MLS in the United States. A review of the on field discussions over decisions is released in audio format on YouTube.
Former Premier League referee, Howard Webb is the head of refereeing in the MLS but is set to make a return to the Premier League as the new chief of referees.
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Webb could play a key role in ensuring the introduction of the new concept runs as smoothly as possible.
VAR was first used on the big stage in the 2018 World Cup and was generally successful. However, since its introduction in the Premier League in 2019, it has been a constant magnet for controversies and criticism. Especially when it came to handball and tight offside decisions.
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand spoke about VAR last month.
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He told Metro: “Sometimes it’s OK but it’s meant to help situations and actually it’s muddying the waters. In the international tournaments they go and look at the screen immediately and the efficiency and speed seem better than it has been in the Premier League.
“I prefer the referee in the middle making the decisions with the help of his linesmen. It adds to the story and the pub conversations.”
During last week’s FA Community Shield clash between Manchester City and Liverpool, Blues fans were unhappy about the inconsistency regarding the use of the technology relating to handball claims made against both sides.
Reds defender Joel Matip seemingly got away with a potential handball but City man Ruben Dias was penalised for the offence inside the box, a penalty was awarded to Liverpool, which Mohamed Salah converted as Liverpool won 3-1.