As this season comes to an end, now perhaps is the time to start thinking about next season, which Leeds United have done.
They have put forward a proposition to the annual Premier League meeting that VAR be scrapped. On the other hand the Premier League is reported to be planning to add the Semi-Automatic Offside Alert, aimed at offsides, where some of the greatest criticism has been made.
I have often said that Offside is probably the most difficult decision that has to be made by assistant referees.
This is because they must see a player in an offside position at the same time as seeing when the ball is last kicked by a teammate, who may be a considerable distance away. Then they must wait to see if the offside player, plays the ball or otherwise interferes with play,
This is perhaps where one of the numerous unintended consequences of VAR that Wolves management say are damaging the relationship between fans and football take place.
Premier League Assistant referees are told that unless it is blatantly an offside offence, they should keep the flag down until the ball next goes out of play which can be some lengthy time.
Sometimes however the ball can be put in the back of the net which the attacking team supporters celebrate only to find a delayed flag. They then wait for VAR to confirm (or otherwise) that goal has been scored.
However the S-AOA has 12 cameras in the stadium which monitors 29 tracking points on each player, which can tell where they are at any time and there is a ball tracking sensor which will tell when it is last kicked.
This information can be sent direct to the assistant referee, who then has the task of seeing if the offending player interferes with play in any way, which is outside the capabilities of the S-AOA.
This would save time, we were told when it was introduced at the last FIFA World Cup but there didn’t seem to be much evidence of this.
There are many other controversial incidents of course that have incensed clubs and fans.
Often for instance, penalties that players claim referees have failed to award, but many are subjective and would still be protested whether there was a VAR or not.
Many other Premier League clubs are unhappy with VAR at present but would rather see it improved than scrapped, so what will we see on next season’s Match of the Day?
