The first games of the group stages in the World Cup have been excellent, but have come with their fair share of drama. On top of this, is a new refereeing system implemented by FIFA for the World Cup. Video assistant referees (VARs) were introduced to minimize errors by on the field referees. A team of 4 referees selected by FIFA, one lead video official and three assistants, are given access to 33 different cameras located inside each stadium.
The video referees and on field referees communicate via a headset. If the lead video official or one of his assistants see a mistake happen they can instantly tell the on the field referee to change the call. The on the field referees also may stop the play to ask the VARs about a call before they make it. The VARs have been extremely prominent in every game played so far. In the England- Tunisia match there were decisions made collectively by the on field referees and the VARs that left people in shock.
The first incident occurred when Kyle Walker, of England, caught Fakhreddine Ben Youssef , of Tunisia, with his arm. The side-on angle appeared to show Walker throw his arm back. It was not an incident that could have been considered a “clear and obvious error,” so VAR was correct to allow the penalty as given. Then in the 39th minute Harry Kane was taken down inside the box but no foul was given after review by the VARs.
Social media was in an uproar after this first no-foul on Kane where he is clearly being tackled to the ground by a Tunisia defender and the VARs were no where to be heard from. Shortly after this in the 51st minute another incident occurred between Kane and a Tunisia defender where it again looked as though Kane was being tackled inside the box. Again the VARs were no where to be heard from.
https://youtu.be/Dn3ibvmD5XQ?t=361
A huge critique of the VARs after this game was about how VARs do not provide any statements on what is and is not a foul. With the aid of replay there should not be any excuses for the referees to miss such obvious calls. There were clearly reasons that the VARs decided not to give Kane two penalty kicks but no official statement has came from FIFA on the incidents.
This new form of officiating matches is supposed to clean the match up and provide fans with reasons as to why certain plays are or are not fouls. As this next month of soccer and the World Cup continues it will be interesting to see how FIFA improves their VARs. Could they learn from other sports and how they use replay? Sports in America such as football, basketball, baseball, and hockey are no stranger to using video and replays to make decisions.
In some instances, coaches even have the ability to challenge what has happened on the field. The distinct difference between how FIFA uses replay and how other sports use replay is that FIFA is challenging a decision the referee made instead of a play that has just happened on the field. A sport such as baseball has the closest solution by giving each managers one challenge over the first six innings of games and two from the seventh inning until the end of the game.
These challenges allow a manager to dispute a call made by an Umpire but are very limited. The difference between baseball and soccer’s critique of the officiating is the VARs are aiming to get every call correct for both teams while the managers are trying to get the correct call for their team. The main problem FIFA has with offering a challenge system is that it would drastically slow the game down. To put it into perspective imagine if in Football when there is a pass interference call the coach could challenge it numerous amounts of times. This would mean more stoppage time and more commercials. The reason so many people love the beautiful game of soccer is that its two non stop 45 minute periods. The addition of VARs is very interesting and over time could see some serious changes that are beneficial to the game of soccer.