As for VAR, in its current form it slows down the game. The FA are basing it on the Rugby model were as I'm proposing it should be based on the Cricket model in order to not slow down the game. We already have goal line technology to tell the ref if the ball crosses the line or not and that works fine so why fold that into VAR? Better to have it work alongside VAR.
Limit it to being used in the most contentious of situations such as the handball that was not given that might have lead to a penalty, or the sending off that would have resulted in a free kick (but everyone thought was a pen at the time). It should not be used to see if the goalscorer was a couple of centimeters offside. What it should be used for is when the goalscorer is a yard or two offside and the linesman clearly gets it wrong. Then, like in Cricket, the Captain calls for a review and the decision is overturned. That still helps officials and improves the accuracy of the game, but it doesn't slow the game down by reviewing every inconsequential decision which is how it works now.
When the ball goes in the back of the net, fans want to celebrate, not sit there twiddling their thumbs, waiting for some ref sat 100 miles away make a decision behind the scenes. If you limit the number of appeals like Cricket does, then it's not used frivolously and becomes a strategic tool to ensure that only the most important decisions are made correctly.
It's not meant to be a strategic tool for teams, it's meant to help referees reach the correct decision. And in order for it to work, then every game changing decision has to be verified. Whether it's a penalty or a dive, a red card or a blatant dive, a great goal or an offside, or the penalty we got in the cup. Which despite the length of time it took, it's still a penalty any day of the week, according to the laws of the game. They all influence the game, and if a wrong decision is initially given, then we have to have the facility to put it right. The decisions have to be got right, the consequences of them being wrong can be considerable.
I've seen the cricket system, and I don't think it's right that teams have limited opportunities to review a decision. So you have teams waiting to use their review, and therefore having to let other wrong decisions stand. You can guarantee football coaches/captains would do the same. A dive given as a penalty is still a dive and it has to be ruled as a dive, not let go because somebody wants to wait until injury time before asking for a review, or alternatively has used up their review beforehand. Players and coaches try to influence officials enough as it is. Allowing them to influence VAR as well makes a mockery of the whole thing. It should be the refs call, because he is the one whose decisions can make or break a season.
There have been plenty of perfectly legal goals scored in VAR games so far, and fans celebrated as normal. Fans will still celebrate goals next season, and they'll know there and then that there was no issue with it. If there is, it will be disallowed, as is the case today, when the refs think they've seen an issue. Next year, they'll know there's been an issue, and they'll then apply the laws of the game as they're supposed to be applied, in a fair and impartial manner.
We have far too much tolerance of foul play and cheating in our sport, it stinks at all levels. VAR is designed to clean that culture up, so that every team gets no more or less than what they deserve. Refs can be conned, but cameras can't.
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