SME
By Ali Al-Basha
(My own opinion)
Alialbasha540@gmail.com
Although video review technology (VAR) has provided protection for both referees and teams by reducing errors, it still requires significant time, which can be a burden for those involved in the matches. This includes the added time used as a substitute for the lengthy stoppages during the actual game. Many countries have already addressed this issue! However, in other places, including here, its application seems to follow a pattern of “arbitrary and inconsistent decisions.” Since the on-field referee and the VAR official need time to review the footage, discuss the incident, and then make a decision—a process that can take up to ten minutes, as we often see with multiple VAR reviews—this leads to frustration. I’m not saying this happens all the time, but often enough that teams, their coaches, managers, and players become agitated when the VAR review interrupts the game, sometimes adding more than ten minutes to the match. We only saw this happen during the initial stages of VAR implementation globally. We have repeatedly stated that the VAR official must be at least an international assistant referee and hold a VAR certification, because we are looking for quality in officiating and protecting teams from the egregious errors that referees sometimes make, errors that can lead to the loss of significant technical and financial investment, which cannot be compensated for by suspending a referee or similar measures. The problem of “arbitrary and inconsistent decisions” and the “counting to ten” process is evident when we see the referee discussing the incident on the screen, seemingly pondering the situation, as if mentally visualizing the incident in slow motion before returning to the field. In my opinion, this stems from a lack of coordination and authority between the VAR room and the on-field referee. In any case, we don’t want to diminish the quality of our officiating, but there are things that need improvement. The head of the committee, its experts, and its members must be present at the matches; this will help them implement effective solutions and make better decisions, rather than relying solely on reviewing video replays.
