Controversy sure to reign when Premier League introduces VAR next season

Fans of controversy in football will have mid-August circled in their diaries as the start of something very special, when the Premier League introduces VAR into the world’s most-watched competition.

Referee Paul Tierney listens to a VAR decision on Tottenham Hotspur's Argentinian midfielder Erik Lamela's goal which is disallowed during the English FA Cup 5th round replay football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rochdale at Wembley Stadium in February. Picture: AFP

• Curse of the Asian Cup continues
• Exciting younster returns to Matildas

Fans of controversy in football will have mid-August circled in their diaries as the start of something special, when the English Premier League introduces VAR into the world’s most-watched competition.

If Australian observers thought the video review system had caused angst in the A-League, just wait until the inevitable teething troubles arise at stadiums around England. Incendiary doesn’t begin to describe it.

The taster of VAR that English football has had through the FA and League Cups (and the Champions League) has already proved contentious in the extreme, mostly over the time taken for review.

Bizarrely the English FA have used it in some FA Cup games but not others - Manchester City’s winner at Swansea in that competition would have been disallowed for offside had a VAR been in operation, proving the video system can be controversial even when it’s not in use.

Referee Craig Pawson looks at the VAR screen after awarding Liverpool a penalty in their FA Cup fourth round clash with West Brom in November. Picture: AFP

To be fair to the body that oversees top referees in England, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), VAR’s belated introduction in the EPL means a huge amount of work has gone into making the system as efficient as possible.

Most controversially, PGMOL has decided to go against FIFA’s official guidance on VAR and have the main referee take the advice of his video assistant on almost every decision without reviewing it himself.

That effectively puts the VAR in control, and though the intention is to remove the delay caused by inspecting a pitchside monitor, we have seen in the A-League that refs do sometimes check a decision but then decline to change it.

The scenes when a senior English referee overturns a decision on the say-so of a junior colleague, and then decides from a post-match replay that he was right in the first place, will be quite something.

Manchester United players surround wait for referee Martin Atkinson as he confers with the VAR on a red card decision for United’s Victor Lindelof during the FA Cup Quarter Final match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United in March. Picture: Getty Images

It’s conceivable that will be watered down once the system is used in practice, just as other facets have been in other leagues to take account of local sentiment (for instance the guidance to Australian VARs not to intervene where a yellow card shown to a player could perhaps have been red).

It’s inevitable that any league bringing in VAR will have to go through a process of working out what level of intervention is appropriate for them, and it’s likely to be a painful voyage of discovery for VARs receiving a torrent of criticism as that plays out.

Referee Felix Brych listens to the VAR for Ajax's third goal during their UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg football clash against Real Madrid earlier this month.

“I think all leagues introducing VAR will have a settling in period, where players, referees and fans need time to understand what the right threshold is for VAR intervention,” said Ben Wilson, FFA’s head of refereeing, whose feedback on the Australian experience has formed part of the EPL’s planning.

Referee Paul Tierney listens to a VAR decision on Tottenham Hotspur's Argentinian midfielder Erik Lamela's goal which is disallowed during the English FA Cup 5th round replay football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rochdale at Wembley Stadium in February. Picture: AFP

PGMOL officials have emphasised FIFA’s mantra, that only the most crucial of decisions could be overturned, but every league has found VARs succumbing to the pressure to intervene in grey areas.

In the Champions League earlier this month, the VAR persuaded referee Damir Skomina to review Presnel Kimpembe’s alleged handball in injury time against Manchester United. Skomina turned his original corner into a penalty, and suddenly Paris St-Germain were out of the Champions League.

Many European refs did not see a debatable handball as a clear and obvious error, and it’s that level of subjectivity which will inevitably have tensions rising.

Just as in the A-League, though, the VAR isn’t going anywhere. Its detractors will have to get used to it.

“I think the Premier League have been very thorough in preparing for VAR,” said Wilson. “Of course the referees and VAR will be under scrutiny given the Premier League’s popularity but they are used to that pressure.

“They have had extensive training and I think it will be successful in the UK.”