A&H

World Cup VAR

The Referee Store
I have a feeling that this board will go into meltdown for the next month, what with this lot..

Referees: Fahad Al Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia) Alireza Faghani (Iran) Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) Mohammed Abdulla Mohamed (United Arab Emirates) Ryuji Sato (Japan) Nawaf Abdulla Shukralla (Bahrain) Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria) Malang Diedhiou (Senegal) Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia) Ghead Grisha (Egypt) Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) Bamlak Tessema Weyesa (Ethiopia) Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) Mark W Geiger (U.S.) Jair Marrufo (U.S.) Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica) John Pitti (Panama) Cesar Arturo Ramos Palazuelos (Mexico) Julio Bascunan (Chile) Enrique Caceres (Paraguay) Andres Cunha (Uruguay) Nestor Pitana (Argentina) Sandro Ricci(Brazil) Wilmar Roldan (Colombia) Matthew Conger (New Zealand) Norbert Hauata (Tahiti) Felix Brych (Germany) Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey) Sergey Karasev (Russia) Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands) Szymon Marciniak (Poland) Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain) Milorad Mazic (Serbia) Gianluca Rocchi (Italy) Damir Skomina (Slovenia) Clement Turpin (France)

& VAR it’s gonna be a rollercoaster..!
 
So....there's going to be referee teams out there who will have VAR on the pitch, who haven't used VAR in their domestic league, is that correct?

It's actually really interesting setup - centralised location, and was it 1 VAR and 3 AVARs? I'd like to know more about their role.
One problem we had in the Australian A-League is that when it goes back to the on-field referee needing to review it, he has no control over the playback. We've had incorrect red cards given after this because the ref is faced with 4 slo-mo feeds and nothing in real time. And given the referee apparently was not trained up in how different things look in slo-mo, he overreacted.
Personally I hate the constant monitoring. That's been and underlying factor in most of the VAR problems in Australia. I think it should only come on at a referee request. Problem is, in Australia the AR's and 4th officials aren't doing their job of scanning the field constantly. But if the ref turns around, a player is on the ground claiming he got stomped on or elbowed and nobody saw anything, the ref should trigger a review based on that.
Another problem we've seen is that referees are using the VAR as a crutch - referees avoid making tough decisions because they know the VAR is there. That causes a massive problem when the footage is not quite conclusive enough for VAR intervention even though we all know it's the wrong decision (or it's not 'clear and obvious' enough). ARs even seem to be keeping the flag down on close decisions (our grand final was decided by an AR potentially doing this, missing a clear offside, and the VAR feed was offline for 'technical errors' for that 30 seconds).
I think VAR can work - but it hasn't yet, and the implementation is completely wrong. They seem to be implementing a better setup - and no doubt have spent a lot of time and money training the dedicated VAR officials.
But have they trained the on-field referees adequately as well?
I like that they seem to be including the footage at the stadium and the online information.
I'm optimistic that this will work well and maybe the domestic competition will learn a lot.
Well, those who have referees there anyway.
Those who don't will keep screwing it up :)
 
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I've been thinking that this might be the best stage to showpiece how FIFA / IFAB expect it to work given it's their protocol. That does make it more imperative they show how good it can be as if the proposer cant get it right then what hope do domestic competitions have. I hope domestic delegates have been able to sit in on the training to take the messages back to the leagues that are operating VAR.
 
I've been thinking that this might be the best stage to showpiece how FIFA / IFAB expect it to work given it's their protocol. That does make it more imperative they show how good it can be as if the proposer cant get it right then what hope do domestic competitions have. I hope domestic delegates have been able to sit in on the training to take the messages back to the leagues that are operating VAR.

I’d be willing to have a sportsman’s bet with anyobdy that VAR at this World Cup will cause nothing but controversy.

That video is beyond belief it’s like the control room at a NASA launch, the thought of 3 or 4 people sitting there analysing a game looking for things a ref has missed leading upto goals or incidents etc is ridiculous.

Basicly we’re looking for the perfect game the perfect refereed game, can you imagine playing an advantage or assessing a situation (foul) and playing on etc & the next thing you know you have someone in your ear piece telling you to stop the game for a review, added to that lino’s are wrong on occasions so they allow a goal & VAR pings them for offside on the biggest stage in the world.. You are gonna end up with officials confidence completely shot to pieces.

34 different nationality’s taking charge of games, I just hope they are all fluent in one language & so is the main hub communicating with them also all fully trained up to a T on how this is gonna work, because if the ref is unsure of what is going on then good luck controlling 22 players whilst your reviewing & dealiing with raw emotion on the pitch.

This has got controversy written all over it as I said before this board will be on meltdown when the games begin.
 
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It looks like the system has has every chance of succeeding given the inclusion of advanced technology and adding a lot of human resources (VAR + 3 X AVARs, 4 X replay operators, FIFA communications personnel + ... ). But be under no pretence that it would work the same if you cut down on the technology or the personnel. It could even have a negative impact.

Its will be a system for use by very few leagues who can afford it. I'd say similar to GLT or even fewer.
 
So, basically I was doing the job of 12 men and they still expected perfection! No pressure chaps!

Gonna be a shambles, VAR is causing outcry & controversy in so called domestic leagues already, add to that the world scene a more complexed operation & 24 of the 34 referees unheard of some plying there trade at a level that would probably equate to UK non league standard.

I have no doubt that VAR will be the topic of conversation during & after this World Cup, Good luck to all involved think your gonna need it.
 
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I may be mistaken (nothing new there) but the list I posted above I believe to be the 34 officials for the World Cup, from the 34 I’ve only heard of 10, some are plying there trade in leagues that would rival a decent Sunday league outfit!
 
Milorad Mazic was the Champions League Final referee this year. His last domestic league game was in the Serbian Super League, Cukaricki vs Vozdovac. Just because they weren't born in a country with a high standard of football and you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they aren't some of the best referees in the world! Conversely, rightly or wrongly, there are no English officials going to Russia, from arguably the best league in the world.
 
Milorad Mazic was the Champions League Final referee this year. His last domestic league game was in the Serbian Super League, Cukaricki vs Vozdovac. Just because they weren't born in a country with a high standard of football and you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they aren't some of the best referees in the world! Conversely, rightly or wrongly, there are no English officials going to Russia, from arguably the best league in the world.
Yes there is a British born referee! Simon Lount born and raised in Leicester :wide: Last time I looked, it was in England! :wtf:
 
Milorad Mazic was the Champions League Final referee this year. His last domestic league game was in the Serbian Super League, Cukaricki vs Vozdovac. Just because they weren't born in a country with a high standard of football and you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they aren't some of the best referees in the world! Conversely, rightly or wrongly, there are no English officials going to Russia, from arguably the best league in the world.

Mazic is one of the ten I have heard of.

I’m just stating that there are offficials from parts of the world that the standard of Football / pressure etc is none existent, add to that this VAR science project with a hub of bods in the referee’s ear & I think you could see some head in hands moments.

Some of the refereeing I’ve seen in the African nations cup & US has been shocking quite simply shocking add to that this complexed VAR system on the biggest stage in the world & I think the poor inexperienced referees could struggle to juggle it all together.

Of course i could be completely wrong it could all go swimmingly with no hiccups & no problems, we may well be applauding VAR & the Ref’s this time next month.
 
MIB, refereeing in a high standard league doesn't necessarily make one a good referee. Similarly refereeing in a low standard one doesn't necessarily make one a poor referee. The same shocking sort of decisions you have seen in other countries can be seen in EPL. The number of glaringly obvious red cards missed in the EPL this year wasn't one or two.

Compare this to the standard of some of the players or countries who missed out to some who are in. Some very high ranking countries missed out while some of the lower ranking ones made it. Like it or not FIFA is making this a World Cup in the true meaning of the word 'World'. Diversity of participation is a big part of making this a world game. Same goes for the referees and FIFA is seeing to it. I think that is a good thing.

Did the best referees make it to the world cup? probably not. Selecting a good referee is a subjective process anyways. Does every referee who is there deserves their spot and capable of doing the job? I believe so.
 
I saw Oliver at Bramall Lane this season and thought he had a stinker, saw him in the CL SF game and thought he was immense. Apart from him have we got a top drawer referee currently? Don’t recall a really decent one since Webb, Minty & I hung up our whistles? :blackeye:
 
MIB, refereeing in a high standard league doesn't necessarily make one a good referee. Similarly refereeing in a low standard one doesn't necessarily make one a poor referee. The same shocking sort of decisions you have seen in other countries can be seen in EPL. The number of glaringly obvious red cards missed in the EPL this year wasn't one or two.

Compare this to the standard of some of the players or countries who missed out to some who are in. Some very high ranking countries missed out while some of the lower ranking ones made it. Like it or not FIFA is making this a World Cup in the true meaning of the word 'World'. Diversity of participation is a big part of making this a world game. Same goes for the referees and FIFA is seeing to it. I think that is a good thing.

Did the best referees make it to the world cup? probably not. Selecting a good referee is a subjective process anyways. Does every referee who is there deserves their spot and capable of doing the job? I believe so.

World Cup in one of the most racist homophobic football violence country’s on the planet forgive me if I don’t share your positivity on FIFA spreading the love of Football worldwide.

Anyway the fact we dont have a rep is outright scandal.

I may be wrong the referees from far & wide that we have no clue about may be top drawer but I’ll reserve judgement thank you.
 
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