To any layman, it would appear that Arsenal were treated harshly when they were credited with Newcastle’s winning goal on Saturday. If the game is serious about reaching the point where VAR is viable, football could consider using it in other sports.
One of the challenges facing football officials is the culture of abuse they face, which is not the case in cricket and rugby in general. This is one of the reasons why video technology in these sports allows for conclusions to be drawn in an atmosphere of calm and togetherness.
There were three controversies surrounding Anthony Gordon’s goal on Saturday. Firstly, to the naked eye the ball appeared to have crossed the touchline before Joe Willock collected it.
The second incident was a possible foul by Joelinton on Gabriel Magalhaes. This was the most obvious and resulted in goals being disallowed in other circumstances. Joelinton held onto Gabriel’s back with both hands, who fell forward under his challenge.
The third problem was Gordon’s positioning, which was ruled offside before his goal could be scored. All this took four very unpleasant minutes. The fan experience at the stadium was particularly unsatisfactory. At least viewers had Sky’s commentary team providing excerpts from the discussions.
VAR did not appear to have access to the necessary camera angles to determine whether the ball was out of bounds or whether Gordon was offside. They decided that Joelinton’s actions were within the law.
Arteta felt his side were disappointed with the quality of their use of VAR. The Premier League cannot go beyond the ability to determine whether the ball is in play or not. This is a technical problem that can be solved with the right camera.
Arsenal were unlucky with Gordon’s positioning. The cameras couldn’t tell from the line whether he was there or not. Joelinton’s decision is a matter of interpretation. In this case, officers suggested that his hands had no effect on Gabriel’s movements.
There are problems in rugby too, as Wayne Barnes learned in last week’s World Cup final when rules forced him to send off New Zealand captain Sam Cane for a heavy tackle that was ruled illegal. What has helped Barnes is a culture that unquestioningly accepts the authority of the judge and trusts the decision-making process that is broadcast in real time.
Cricket also benefits from the same support from players who have absolute trust and respect for the umpires, as well as transparency in decision-making, with discussions broadcast live on site and streamed to audiences who watch remotely on their devices.
There is another element of cricket that could well be adopted by football. The Umpire Call is a device that recognizes that some decisions are out of control due to the inaccuracy associated with the use of Hawkeye technology, especially regarding LBW decisions. This level of tolerance in measuring results is not available to football officials, who are condemned to determine results solely by fractions.
Football would benefit from moving away from absolute standards where a player can be offside because his earlobe is on the wrong side of the line, and introducing a level of interpretation that asks: what is going on in the mind of a reasonable person? the person is the one who commits the violation Is the location of the earlobe a factor in whether a player assists or scores a goal? Otherwise the target stops.
There is no doubt that VAR is a tool that can help officials make more informed decisions. We don’t want to go back to that time Game of the day Experts looked at errors made by referees and linesmen who ruled out goals when goalkeepers intercepted the ball over the line or when defenders’ shots bounced a foot off the crossbar.
Such incidents would prompt painful howls from outraged managers such as Arteta, who complain endlessly about refereeing standards. We have the technology to find a viable solution that could actually eliminate these problems. What is missing is a meaningful interpretation of the data and a level of transparency that allows participants and observers to follow and understand the decision-making process.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.