The Premier League is changing VAR this season - but Euro 2020 standards hard to beat
Roberto Rosetti, the chairman of UEFA’s referees’ committee, struck a triumphant tone in the days that followed the finale of Euro 2020. “The scope to criticise the referees was very limited,” he said in a debrief laden with lavish congratulations. “Their work over 51 matches was seamless. We’re very proud of them.”
Self-praise might be no praise but Rosetti still had a point. The European Championship came and went with refereeing controversies in short supply and, perhaps more importantly, tentatively pointed towards a future where video technology might not be quite as insufferable as most were beginning to fear.
In the 51 matches that spanned a month, a total of 276 incidents were checked by VAR. Only 18 of them — 6.5 per cent — resulted in corrections and only eight of that number were overturned via an on-field review at a pitchside screen.
UEFA — and this bit is enormously subjective — also declared that those 18 VAR checks brought 100 per cent accuracy. Denmark, who lamented the fall of Raheem Sterling to win England’s decisive penalty in the semi-finals, will no doubt beg to differ.
Not open to debate, however, were the improvements to VAR’s implementation. That it was scarcely a story was the story in itself. The “lighter touch”, as Rossetti put it, was universally well-received.
“What I hope is that this kind of use of this tool can continue all around Europe,” he added. “We believe that the referees must always be at the centre of the decision and take decisions on the field of play. Minimum interference for maximum benefit.”
VAR is going nowhere, least of all in the Premier League. A third season supported by video technology begins next month and the hope is that this evolving beast can replicate the successes of Euro 2020.
Wider offside lines, handing the benefit of doubt to attackers, have already been approved, along with a revised handball rule voted through by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in March.
The finer details will be outlined by referee’s head Mike Riley in his pre-season address to officials next month but there is confidence within the Premier League that its own organic development of VAR, rather than following the examples of Euro 2020, will bring a season of reduced problems.
The Premier League, like UEFA, believes it is on the right path with VAR. The total number of checks in 2020-21 was 2,029, with 129 of them resulting in reviews. Broadly speaking, those were in line with the numbers at Euro 2020. The Premier League also maintains decision accuracy is 97 per cent with VAR, as opposed to 85 per cent without.
Imperfections, though, remain. Controversies have become an almost weekly sideshow over the last two years and Riley, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), wrote to all 20 Premier League clubs last season to canvass opinions on how best to improve VAR. A presentation based on those survey results was then delivered to the stakeholders at the AGM held in Harrogate last month.
A proposal to widen the superimposed offside lines was approved by chief executives, with the Premier League choosing to follow the lead of UEFA and the Netherlands’ Eredivisie for 2021-22.
Thicker lines will go some way to eliminating the marginal offside calls that routinely angered players and management. Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford argued VAR was “ruining football” after he had a goal disallowed for pointing to where he had wanted to collect a pass in a 4-1 defeat at Crystal Palace last November.
Contentious decisions will not be eradicated by thicker lines but, in theory, will present attacking players with a slight advantage in offside decisions compared to last season. The “armpit” infringements, like Bamford’s, are no longer expected to see goals ruled out from next month. Other leagues, including the Eredivisie, have used a line that represents 10cm on the pitch.
The Premier League will also revise the way decisions are reached in front of viewers. The clunky process of calibrating lines will no longer be shown, a step initially taken to increase transparency, with the final, thicker lines presenting a clearer picture from the outset.
Another alteration for 2021-22 is the revised handball law. IFAB revealed in early March that “accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goalscoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence” but Euro 2020 was the first time the changes were implemented.
That will eliminate occasional sources of consternation in the Premier League this season. The most recent example of that bringing controversy was when Josh Maja thought he had secured an equaliser in Fulham’s game with Tottenham in March, only for it to be ruled out after Davinson Sanchez’s clearance thumped the arm of the hapless Mario Lemina from point-blank range.
One ace played by UEFA during Euro 2020 that will be beyond the Premier League was the number of VAR staff committed to each fixture.
As well as the head video assistant referee (VAR) leading operations from their base in Nyon, there was also an assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) and offside video assistant referee (OVAR) appointed. For good measure, there were an additional three operators, as well as a VAR support assistant.
The Premier League’s operations, based out of Stockley Park, west London, involve only three people; a VAR, an AVAR and a replay operator.
Greater staffing numbers helped to speed up the decision-making process during Euro 2020 but there are currently no plans for the Premier League to make its own increases to cover what amounts to 380 games per season.
The Premier League points to its improvements year on year. They say the average time taken on checks was reduced by five seconds in 2020-21, while the time taken on reviews was cut by 10 seconds when compared to 2019-20. The average delay caused by VAR, they add, amounts to 50 seconds per game.
Privately, the Premier League will accept their pool of officials falls short of those used at Euro 2020. Although Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver were considered to be among the elite European referees called upon, the Premier League’s standards are inevitably lower than a competition that attracted the continent’s best. Mistakes requiring the intervention of VAR are always likely to be more common in domestic football.
The Premier League at least have their first dedicated VAR official in 2021-22. Lee Mason, who retired as a match official at the end of last season, will continue working for the Premier League from Stockley Park with the aim of improving levels of consistency.
A further four referees have been promoted to “Select Group 1”: Jarred Gillett, Michael Salisbury, Tony Harrington and John Brooks. The 34-year-old Gillett is well-versed in VAR having worked extensively with the technology in his native Australia’s A-League before moving to England two years ago.
Were they designed by the same people who did the new EA Sports covers?
