VARcical Decision

Yeah, one claim per half, that’s my suggestion anyway…originally I was thinking 3 claims per match but the problem is the more you give, the more the ref goes to the monitor and slow the game down. If you give unlimited then it becomes useless. And I thought 1 is a bit tight.

1 per half or perhaps 3 in the whole game is enough so that players would use it only in important moments, like handball, penalty challenges or red card.

If you are out of claims…tough luck, such as life before VAR entirely.

The point is also remove the group of men upstairs, and for the fans in the stadium, at least they are seeing the same thing in real time and not having to stand there looking at “VAR check in progress”. There is only 1 guy in charge, the ref on the field and it doesn’t feel like the game is being re-referee from upstairs.

In the end, I’m thinking of a way to put in modern tech, blending in a way that flows better.
But it’s not going to flow better using your way. You need the team captain to see the incident. You need him to approach the ref and ask the review it. You need the captain to decide how serious/legit/likely to succeed his shout to the ref will be. He can’t make that decision on the spot - he’ll have to chat to the team/players involved first, even if he has seen it himself. If he hasn’t, god knows how long it’ll take him to work out if it’s worth hollering the ref.
There’d be player huddles all over the pitch every 5 minutes with the captain running between them all trying to work out what’s legit and what’s a load of crybaby talk.
 
If you wanted the 'review token' system to function even half way sensibly, it would have to be the coaches requesting the review via 4th official rather than any of the players themselves I think - what if your captain is your GK? You can't have the GK chasing the ref up the pitch whilst the game is still underway because one of the strikers has tried to shout down the pitch that he thinks he was fouled in the box and wants the review used :p

Whether that review is only with the game ref using a screen or it goes to a VAR panel to get alternative viewpoints or whatever else is another element of the discussion that I think has merits either way.
 
But it’s not going to flow better using your way. You need the team captain to see the incident. You need him to approach the ref and ask the review it. You need the captain to decide how serious/legit/likely to succeed his shout to the ref will be. He can’t make that decision on the spot - he’ll have to chat to the team/players involved first, even if he has seen it himself. If he hasn’t, god knows how long it’ll take him to work out if it’s worth hollering the ref.
There’d be player huddles all over the pitch every 5 minutes with the captain running between them all trying to work out what’s legit and what’s a load of crybaby talk.

I don’t see it that way, no different than before VAR when players shouts handball, if they take too long and the play continues and the whistle goes then your chance gone. Yes I fully realise then the argument is then “how soon should he blow the whistle”. My rebuttals is then you should have shouted louder when you saw the handball.

This problem already exist with VAR, but now at least with only max 4 claims total it will minimise breaks to just 4. If you want to reduce even more breaks then make it just 1 per team per game. If you think that’s not enough then it’s a balance of whether you value flow of the game more or potential mistakes happens on the pitch.

Overall, the players has a chance to ask the ref to check his decision if they really disagree with it.

If you wanted the 'review token' system to function even half way sensibly, it would have to be the coaches requesting the review via 4th official rather than any of the players themselves I think - what if your captain is your GK? You can't have the GK chasing the ref up the pitch whilst the game is still underway because one of the strikers has tried to shout down the pitch that he thinks he was fouled in the box and wants the review used :p

Whether that review is only with the game ref using a screen or it goes to a VAR panel to get alternative viewpoints or whatever else is another element of the discussion that I think has merits either way.
Captain, manager, the kit man, just details. The point is have only 1 person and not let everyone do it.
 
Last edited:
Overall, the players has a chance to ask the ref to check his decision if they really disagree with it.
But they don’t really in your scenario. They have to alert someone else, whoever you’ve deemed the responsible person. They have to do that in a timely fashion too in your scenario. That’s never happening on a football pitch dude.
 
But they don’t really in your scenario. They have to alert someone else, whoever you’ve deemed the responsible person. They have to do that in a timely fashion too in your scenario. That’s never happening on a football pitch dude.

“Alert someone else”, that someone else wouldn’t be having a poo…they would be on the pitch, playing the same football match. You are making it sound like that person doesn’t have his mind in the game. In that case, that’s his fault. Should have been paying attention.

The games keep flowing. Win win.

If the ref gives it and your team disagree then you can play your token if you want. If you have been asleep on the pitch or away taking a poo not noticed when the ref gives a pen and not play your token then that’s your fault.
 
Last edited:
So many extra convoluted steps to just have the same outcomes we have now, the issue isn't VAR per say its the officials. There is zero appetite within the Premier League to improve this element so if it comes down to it then getting rid of VAR is fine by me - goal line tech and the semi automated offside tech that's coming in during next season is more than enough.
 
It’s only 1 step and you can only use that a limited number of times per game.

“Monitor please ref”

That’s the step.

The ref goes to the monitor already:-

It removes the VAR review time;
The fans in the stadium can see what is going on;
At minimum it removes the current unlimited number of VAR check;
It removes the double checking of VAR and ref to the monitor;
It removes the facelsss VAR booth doing its thing and leaving fans not knowing looking at a screen.
It removes the double refereeing with 2 groups of people, only the ref on the pitch can make decision.

I mean players already argue with the referee already about decisions and regardless of VAR or no VAR or any system being implemented, they are going to continue to argue with the referee. The only difference here is the players now have one card (or 2) they can play to ask the ref to double check the decision he just made.
 
Last edited:
Alert someone else”, that someone else wouldn’t be having a poo…they would be on the pitch, playing the same football match. You are making it sound like that person doesn’t have his mind in the game. In that case, that’s his fault. Should have been paying attention.

The games keep flowing. Win win.

If the ref gives it and your team disagree then you can play your token if you want. If you have been asleep on the pitch or away taking a poo not noticed when the ref gives a pen and not play your token then that’s your fault.
No one has to be away doing a poo. But your plan requires that whoever is responsible for approaching the ref has to be alerted or 100% spending every moment watching the game play. Again, that don’t happen in the real world dude.

Your whole idea of having some one person as the point of contact to raise a ref challenge, especially when those challenges are limited in number, is not going to make anything flow better.
 
No one has to be away doing a poo. But your plan requires that whoever is responsible for approaching the ref has to be alerted or 100% spending every moment watching the game play. Again, that don’t happen in the real world dude.

Your whole idea of having some one person as the point of contact to raise a ref challenge, especially when those challenges are limited in number, is not going to make anything flow better.

Yes, the players on the pitch will have to be on alert, if they don’t pay attention for a split second they let in a goal. Tough luck, stop snoozing when there is a match going on. They are professionals, concentrate.

The limited amount is what makes it flow better, if they only get 1 then the game will maximum pause twice for the entire match. Rather than the current unlimited.

What's the point though? The issues aren't the system, its the match officials and the utter subjectivity involved in how the Pl is refereed.

Too many cooks IMO. Just the ref is enough, it has been enough for over a hundred years.
 
Last edited:
“Monitor please ref”
Where is this person that says monitor please ref. Are they a player? If so, what if they’re opposite end of the pitch tying their laces - is that just a tough luck moment for the team?
If they’re a coach or off field, how do they know this one instance is the instance they contact the ref. Have the players involved got open mic comms to their off field person so can quickly explain what happened?
Dunno how you don’t see how many different problems your idea presents.
 
Where is this person that says monitor please ref. Are they a player? If so, what if they’re opposite end of the pitch tying their laces - is that just a tough luck moment for the team?
If they’re a coach or off field, how do they know this one instance is the instance they contact the ref. Have the players involved got open mic comms to their off field person so can quickly explain what happened?
Dunno how you don’t see how many different problems your idea presents.

That’s just details, it surely won’t be someone washing the dishes at home not watching the game.

The logical thing is one player per team. The captain being the obvious one, but if the captain is the goalie then perhaps they can nominate someone else who is closer to the center of play.
 
Last edited:
I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous.

It’s what happens in football, if you don’t pay attention you get punished. If you get fouled and you don’t say anything and the ref don’t call a foul then after the game you complaint about it? Why? Why didn’t you shout foul in the moment? Why was the captain not notice the player shouted “foul” or “handball”? Where were you? Chatting up someone in the crowd or actually have your mind in the game?
 
It’s what happens in football, if you don’t pay attention you get punished.
no it's not. that's a catchy soundbite, nothing more. players are required to be focused concentrate, yes, but on their position and job on the field. you've just given someone else an extra, unnecessary job.

lets say your captain is your CB and your team has made a quick break from the keepers kick out. in your scenario your cb now has to focus on what's happening in the opponents box, through a crowd of people the length of the pitch rather than his actual job as a player, such as his own positioning or where the opponents attacking threat might come from should they turn the attack round - how you don't see the insanity of that idea is beyond me.

if you decide it's an off field persons responsibility - who communicates to them that this particular foul is the one that needs challenging? and how do you do that in a timely organised fashion?
 
Last edited:
no it's not. that's a catchy soundbite, nothing more. players are required to be focused concentrate, yes, but on their position and job on the field. you've just given someone else an extra, unnecessary job.

lets say your captain is your CB and your team has made a quick break from the keepers kick out. in your scenario your cb now has to focus on what's happening in the opponents box, through a crowd of people the length of the pitch rather than his actual job as a player, such as his own positioning or where the opponents attacking threat might come from should they turn the attack round - how you don't see the insanity of that idea is beyond me.

if you decide it's an off field persons responsibility - who communicates to them that this particular foul is the one that needs challenging? and how do you do that in a timely organised fashion?

You are making it sound so obscenely impossible to complaint to the referee about a decision. It’s not like they don’t do it already, every game, at every decision. The only difference here is they have a card to play to get the ref to go to the monitor.

What’s the difference?

I don’t think we watch the same game. Because I see players surrounds the ref all the time.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom