AFTER a few relatively quiet months without too much controversy, the rights and wrongs of VAR have come back to dominate the agenda with a vengeance in Germany over the last few days.
This week’s bone of contention was an elbow – the elbow of Werder Bremen defender Theodor Gebre Selassie, who pushed Kingsley Coman ever so slightly in the back with said extremity and conceded a late and extremely harsh penalty in the DFB Cup semi-final as a result.
Robert Lewandowski stepped up to convert, Bayern won 3-2 to make the final in Berlin and everyone else was pretty upset. “What’s the point of having VAR? If they don’t see that (this wasn’t a foul), we might as well abolish it again,” said Werder striker Max Kruse.
The DFB statement says that there should have been an on field review for the referee to decide by himself, that the communication with the VAR room didn't go well and that "From a referee perspective, we think the penalty decision is not correct." pic.twitter.com/PfLXGZ3H7Y
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) April 25, 2019
The public backlash against referee Daniel Siebert’s decision to award the softest of spot-kicks without interference from VAR or taking another look for himself on the monitor was so serious that the German FA issued an apology of sorts the next day. Dr Jochen Drees, head of the VAR project, explained that “there should have definitely been an on-field-review” and that "the penalty decision was on balance “incorrect”.
This case highlights some of the complexities of the technology’s use. As Drees outlined, the main problem was one of inadequate communication between the referee and the VAR. Siebert, it seems, mistakenly believed that Coman had been tripped rather than pushed but crucially failed to specify the details of the potential offence when talking to the VAR, who apparently only checked whether Coman had indeed been pushed in the back. Contact was minimal to the point of being ephemeral but in VAR’s view nevertheless sufficient to rule that Siebert had not made a clear and obvious error. In fact he had done just that, however: he had seen a trip where there was none.
The two officials should have cleared that misapprehension up easily enough. VAR should have quickly established that Siebert had seen a ghost foul. But even if he had witnessed the “push”, the penalty decision was both dubious and important enough to warrant at least a second look. German fans got very upset in VAR’s debut season last year when the man sitting in a video gallery in Cologne overruled the referee far too frequently and also invited referees to take a second-look for themselves in too many cases.
OTD 2️⃣5️⃣ years ago, Thomas Helmer scored the phantom goal vs. 1. FC Nürnberg in 1994!
VAR probably would have helped. pic.twitter.com/yAw5eFFVsZ
— FC Bayern US (@FCBayernUS) April 23, 2019
One of the main reasons why VAR has run much more smoothly in year two is that it’s been used more sparingly, in line with IFAB’s “clear and obvious" protocol. But on Wednesday night, an on-field-review would indeed have been the best choice. As a last resort for very complicated calls, use of the monitor has proved great tool. It helps officials make a much better informed judgement and markedly decreases on-field aggravation by players who feel aggrieved by the decision.
There’s almost an expectation now that referees will go over to see whether they’ve got the initial call right when it comes to big decisions that involve an element of subjectivity. Acceptance of VAR would surely be more widespread if football’s lawmakers wouldn’t treat stadium crowds like an unruly mob that cannot possible be trusted to see the issue at hand played out in slow-motion on the big screen for themselves. It’s a ridiculous and unedifying stance.
Philosophical – some might say: hysterical – considerations about a loss of immediate emotions apart, making it easier for referees to come to a considered view in murky situations is precisely why the technology was introduced in the first place. There will still be mistakes, incompetence and disagreements, and people will still get terribly cross with the odd malfunction rather than acknowledge the majority of incidents that are now routinely resolved with no problem.
But grave miscarriages of justices will eventually go by the way of wrong offside goals and disappear altogether. Thanks to VAR, the next super-soft penalty is far less likely to be given.
DFB Pokal Final odds: RB Leipzig 9/2, Draw 29/10, Bayern Munich 3/5
