VAR set for English debut
Video assistant referees are set to make their debut in competitive English club matches this week as the face of refereeing looks set to change forever.
The system, which has already been deployed in the Bundesliga and Serie A, is set to be used in Monday night's FA Cup clash between Brighton and Crystal Palace and again in Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final tie between Chelsea and Arsenal, with former Premier League referee Mike Riley, now the director of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, saying that the aim of the system is to reduce the number of errors by officials by 2%.
Riley believes that criticism that the system will slow the game down too much is incorrect, with the veteran whistler having told 'The Guardian' that VAR will only be consulted every two to three games and that 96% of decisions made by referees are correct.
“If we’re saying that 4% of decisions are wrong, a 2% improvement is good for the game,” Riley said. “As long as we don’t increase interference.”
Rather than checking every incident that goes on in a game, VAR will be reserved for match-changing incidents, including goals, penalties, red cards and cases of mistaken identity.
Only 'clear and obvious mistakes' will be looked at, with referees told to continue as normal the rest of the time.
“This will be really good for football when we’ve worked through it and ironed out all the subtleties,” Riley explained. “This is a journey and we’re at the start of it. It will take two or three years for it to benefit football.
“We can’t out of this make football the perfect game. If, as this progresses, the game as a whole says here is a situation where we can intervene, we’ll look at it. But we’re not there yet.”
Referees will be in contact with another official situated in a video operations room, whilst the on-field referee will also be able to review decisions himself in the 'Referee Review Area' between the dugouts.