Premier League pushes for VAR overhaul – here is how it can be improved
The Premier League is pushing for VAR reform after conceding checks are “taking too long” and the supporter experience is “nowhere near good enough”.
In a frank admission that the technology is “poor” for those at games, Tony Scholes, the top tier’s chief football officer, acknowledged “we’ve got work to do”.
Scholes vehemently defended refereeing standards but accepted “clearly” VAR is “not perfect” as he outlined plans to speed up checks and improve stadium communication.
One improvement next season will see fans informed of refereeing decisions during matches, but only once the VAR process for the matter in question has been resolved.
But the league has been left frustrated at being “constrained” by the International Football Association Board [Ifab], the lawmaking body, over a proposed introduction of live updates from the VAR.
“It’s nowhere near good enough - we know it’s not,” said Scholes of supporters complaining of being left in the dark this season. “It affects supporters’ enjoyment of the game and we know it needs to change.”
In addition to lobbying Ifab for better communication, the league’s other major concern is to improve decision speeds. “The reviews are taking too long and it’s affecting the flow of the game and we’re extremely aware of that and the need to improve that speed, whilst always maintaining the accuracy,” said Scholes. “By training development, we want them [the VARs] to make a decision on the facts they see but not having to double or triple check.”
Managers, captains and club directors will be issued with surveys this month as the league works on improvements in the technology and lawmaking in general.
The handball law will feature among questions, with Scholes revealing how “at our last manager’s meeting, one asked: ‘We have no idea where we are with the handball law’.” Then others joined in and backed him up.”
Scholes, however, argued the standard of refereeing is as high as it had ever been and expressed “disappointment” at clubs who have gone public with criticism of league officiating this season. Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Wolves have all made their feelings known after controversial incidents.
In an extensive briefing detailing the league’s progress on refereeing and VAR ahead of a club shareholders’ meeting in London on Thursday, Scholes also detailed how the majority of supporters surveyed by the league “are still in favour of VAR”, with correct decisions increasing from 82 per cent to 96 per cent since the technology was introduced.
In total, VAR errors have fallen from 25 at this stage last season to 20. Subjectively, VAR has twice wrongly intervened - the disallowed Burnley goal against Nottingham Forest and an overturned Arsenal penalty against Manchester United.
The one “factual” mistake made this season was the “significant human error” that saw a Luis Diaz goal wrongly ruled out for offside against Tottenham.
🗣️ 'They've got that so badly wrong'
🗣️ 'I'm not a fan of VAR'
Jamie Redknapp and Andros Townsend discuss the disallowed Luis Diaz goal pic.twitter.com/sLixfvMqmM— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 30, 2023
But match length and playing time have both increased by three mins 31 seconds, with “officials being stricter on time wasting”. Yellow cards for the offence have risen from 67 at the same point last year to 145.
Extra playing time has led to 92 goals in added time this season, 49 more than at the same stage last year. In total, there have been 730 goals which equates to 3.2 per match.
The league will also ask other competitions to stop adding pressures on the match calendar. “The calendar is getting more and more difficult because of other competitions expanding,” says Scholes.
The five things the Premier League wants to improve VAR
Decision-making from referees in the Premier League is more accurate than ever, but the competition now readily concedes that VAR still has major issues to iron out. As the top tier takes soundings from captains, managers and club owners on various matters over the coming weeks, here are the five main topics on the agenda:
Too many checks and taking too long
The most common bugbear cited by players, managers and fans alike had been the disruption to the flow of the game since VAR was introduced.
Unrest has peaked again this season, with one of the lengthiest checks of the season for Liverpool’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace in December. During one pitch-side review, referee Andy Madley watched 24 replays before ruling there had been a foul in the build-up to him awarding a first-half penalty to the home side. Now, in its fourth year of use in England’s top tier, the Premier League admits it is one of two problem areas that lawmakers still need to iron out.
Tony Scholes, the top tier’s chief football officer, stops short of calling for time limits on checks, instead suggesting the solution will be recruitment and training.
“Starting point is we don’t want to jeopardise accuracy,” he says. “We need to ensure that.” He admits, however, that “decision times have increased this season” and “that’s alongside the increased scrutiny that is on the VAR’s alongside the result of a couple of high profile decisions this year”.
One of those incidents that will have undermined confidence in quick decision-making was the mistake which denied Liverpool’s Luis Diaz a goal against Tottenham last September.
Extra scrutiny adds pressure “but by training development we want them to focus on making a decision on the facts they see but not having to double or triple check,” Scholes said.
VAR Audio
Scholes acknowledges the VAR experience is especially “poor” when you are actually in attendance at a game. The solution as far as he is concerned is to lobby lawmakers Ifab to liberalise their rules on allowing competitions to provide live updates on decision-making. Eventually, he believes video of decision-making at Stockley Park could be beamed onto big screens in grounds.
“They’re very clear at the moment that we cannot use the audio and we cannot play the audio,” explained Scholes. “My personal view is we’re on a journey, and that will come and we’ll get to a point where both the video and the audio is played live and then played afterwards to explain the decision... But we will continue to lobby them to get to a place where VAR is open, transparent and informative to supporters and all stakeholders as it is possible to do. One development that we are expected to come in, of course, is that the referee will announce their decision post VAR review to the crowd on the pitchside.”
Doubts over semi-automated offside technology
Having been more cautious than other competitions in introducing VAR in the first place, now the Premier League is yet to be convinced about auto-offsides. The Premier League has a contract with Nike so would be unable to use a like-for-like Adidas ball chip that is being used at Euro 2024. For the first time, Scholes said he could not guarantee that the clubs would be able to vote on the introduction of the technology in time for next season. In what he described as a “note of caution” for those demanding its introduction, he said: “First of all, we don’t believe that will increase the accuracy of decision making.” The league is still testing “a couple of systems”, he explained, adding that it’s “not definite” that any firm decision will be made this year. “We want to be extremely certain that it will improve the situation and not detract from it in any manner,” he added.
Match calendar
The “very hot topic” being championed by the league over the coming months will be that the match calendar is full, with players facing an 80-game plus season with an expanded Champions League, a bigger World Cup and extra tournaments in between. “Player and coach feedback is very clear... we are very supportive of the position that the PFA and the LMA are taking from a player welfare perspective to make sure that all competitions, all authorities are aware of the impact the calendar has on a player,” he says.
Keeping complaints from managers and clubs in house
In a season in which the likes of Arsenal and Nottingham Forest have piled pressure on referees with public complaints, the league is keen to stop a trend emerging.
Scholes says it can “be a little disappointing when clubs go public” given “we communicate with clubs all the time with regards to refereeing decision-making decisions”.
This year the league has established an “improvement advisory group that has half a dozen club representatives on that group” to iron out any concerns. There will also be “a large survey this month of football managers, captains, football directors and executives” on subjects including VAR thresholds and handball.
