VAR must improve in 2020-
SeppBlatter composed hismost
lugubrious expression, leaned forward
meaningfully, gazed around the
expectant quorum of reporters and
admitted: “We are a laughing stock
around the world.”
The phrase has been re-coined
more recently about the erratic
and belated arrival of VAR in
the Premier League.
But Blatter was speaking as FIFA
president a decade ago, the day after
witnessing Frank Lampard’s infamous
“phantom goal” against Germany
at the 2010 World Cup.
There had been none of the
“was-it-or-wasn’t-it?” guesswork
which surrounds England’s third goal
in the1966 final against the same
opposition; nor even the “did-I-see-
what-I-think-I-did?” over Diego
Maradona’s “Hand of God” audacity
for Argentina in Mexico in1986.
Everyone in the Bloemfontein sun
had seen Lampard’s shot strike the
underside of the crossbar and spin
down behind the line. Everyone, that
is, except refereeJorge Larrionda
and his assistant.It was to trigger a total change
of heart for the head of FIFA.
Blatter’s reversal was momentous
because it destroyed the concept of
universality; that all football should
be played within the same basic
conditions, from World Cup to
pub league.
Embracing technology drove an
irrevocable chasm between the elite
minority and the grassroots majority.
Within two years, goal-line
technology had been developed
and approved. But, as Michel Platini
forecast: “With goal-line cameras we
will be on a slippery slope; people will
want even more technology.”
Of course, Blatter was correct to
change his mind. But the pessimisticPlatini was also correct: a mere eight
years and two World Cups later, video
assistant refereeing was imported
atthe2018WorldCup.
VAR is often misunderstood. This is a
different beast to goal-line technology,
which is only about fact: the whole of
the ball is either over the line or it is
not. But VAR relies to a significant
extent on subjective judgement.Not that there is any going back.
Pandora’s box has been thrown open
and all the little devils lurking around
offside, handball, televisual lines and
pitch-side screens have been cast
into the worldwide game.
Surprisingly, considering
the Premier League’s symbiotic
relationship with TV and the alacrity
with which it led the take-up of
goal-line technology in 2013, it
was caught off-balance by the
VAR revolution.
IFAB – with the four British
FAs comprising half its members,
remember – approved the start of
worldwide VAR trials in 2017. Some
countries rushed in. But not England.
Such caution may have appearedTHEWORLD THIS MONTH
THE INSIDER
Keir
RADNEDGE
wise as initial tales of confusion and
complication erupted in Germany,
Italy, Netherlands and Portugal.
These included a counter-attacking
goal denied by an earlier VAR incident
at the other end, mistaken identities,
a team summoned from the dressing
room at half-time after an over-
extended VAR review and a VAR
boss in Germany sacked midway
through the season as the price
for his referees’ blunders.
English football dipped its toe
in the waters in the 2017-18 FA Cup
and did not like what it saw. Hence
the Premier League waited until last
season when it paid an exposed
reputational penalty for having
fallen behind the curve.
On the face of it, the margin for
error should be minimal. Only four
sectors of play are targeted: goal or
no goal; penalty or no penalty; direct
red card (not second yellow); and
mistaken identity.
FIFA refereeing bosses Pierluigi
Collina and Massimo Busacca have
always insisted that VAR is only
recourse for “clear and obvious”
mistakes. But what is clear and
obvious to the video referee is not
clear and obvious to the live spectator.
Thus, chaos reigned over goals
disallowed by the man in Stockley
Park, who could zero in on a trailing
finger or raised boot stud or armpitNo goal...VAR played
its part in the post-
lockdown Premier
LeaguePandora’s box has been thrown open and all
the little devils lurking around offside, handball,televisual lines and pitch-side screens have
been cast into the worldwide game
Denied...Frank
Lampard in
Bloemfontein, 2010