A&H

Man Utd v Reading VAR IT WORKS !

I dont have the sound on. Should the ref have gone for a look himself?
As I read the protocol, absolutely. It's a judgement call as to whether a foul has occurred (especially when the referee didn't give it in the first instance) not a 'point of contact' or factual decision (like offside, ball out of play, goal/no goal, for instance).
No I don’t think so, and well done to him for accepting the advice.
Except that isn't how its supposed to work - for everything except issues of a factual nature (which deciding whether something was a foul or not isn't) according to the way I understand the protocol, the referee should conduct an on-field review.
What on earth happens if the 2 guys in the truck don't agree! Do we take the VAAR as the lead because its an offside up for debate and ignore him for anything else?
Again, this is not how the protocol works. The VAR officials are only to report the facts of what they have seen to the referee, they are not to make any determination of what the decision should be (except for wholly factual matters, as mentioned). If the decision is something that comes down to a matter of opinion or debate, that has to be left solely to the referee.
 
The Referee Store
As I read the protocol, absolutely. It's a judgement call as to whether a foul has occurred (especially when the referee didn't give it in the first instance) not a 'point of contact' or factual decision (like offside, ball out of play, goal/no goal, for instance).

Except that isn't how its supposed to work - for everything except issues of a factual nature (which deciding whether something was a foul or not isn't) according to the way I understand the protocol, the referee should conduct an on-field review.

Again, this is not how the protocol works. The VAR officials are only to report the facts of what they have seen to the referee, they are not to make any determination of what the decision should be (except for wholly factual matters, as mentioned). If the decision is something that comes down to a matter of opinion or debate, that has to be left solely to the referee.



I don't doubt this but on that basis, surely it follows that every handball must be reviewed by the field referee?
 
I don't doubt this but on that basis, surely it follows that every handball must be reviewed by the field referee?
Not necessarily - if the referee has seen something that they judge to be a deliberate attempt by the player to handle the ball and is simply not sure whether the player's arm or hand actually made contact with the ball, all the VAR official would have to do would be to confirm whether there was contact or not. But usually (and this is what we saw on almost every occasion in the World Cup) when there is a contentious handball decision, the referee will want to look at it for themselves.

The only kinds of incident for which the protocol says an OFR might be dispensed with are:
factual decisions such as the position of an offence or player (e.g. offside), point of contact on the body for handball or a foul, ball out of play etc.

Even for this sort of factual decision, the protocol says that the referee can still choose to have an OFR anyway, including situations where they feel it would be of use:
to assist match control or to ‘sell’ a decision.

For anything that falls into the category of a 'subjective' decision, which I would say is the case for most all fouls, the clear guideline in the protocol is that the referee should take a look for themselves because, as it states, the final decision always has to be taken by the referee and the VAR team can only provide information to the referee to assist them in reaching a decision - they can't make a determination by themselves as to what the decision should be for any 'subjective' matter.
 
Back
Top