In-stadium VAR announcements trial to be extended beyond Fifa events

The use of in-stadium Video Assistant Referee (VAR) announcements is set to be extended beyond Fifa events.

VAR decisions were announced at the Women’s World Cup, but the PA news agency says football’s lawmakers Ifab will now trial in other competitions.

FA chief Mark Bullingham expects Ifab to discuss other changes, such as making audio between the referee and VAR available in the stadium.

He said an extension to the trial is a “step in the right direction”.

At July’s World Cup, referees announced VAR decisions to the crowd via microphone to fans in stadiums and viewers at home – a first at a senior Fifa international tournament.

Last month, miscommunication between VAR Darren England and referee Simon Hooper led to Liverpool’s Luis Diaz having a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in their Premier League game against Tottenham.

Referees’ chief Howard Webb has since said steps have been taken to avoid a repeat of the controversy, with Liverpool losing the game 2-1.

Bullingham, chief executive of the Football Association and a member of Ifab, said the organisation had discussed making changes to the laws of the game so that conversations between on-field officials and VARs are broadcast live to fans in the stadium, which is currently prohibited.

“Generally there is a split in the room over that, and quite often it is between the marketing and commercial people and the referees,” he added.

“Our point of view, from the marketing and commercial perspective, would normally be that transparency is a really good thing, and we want fans to have the maximum experience.”

However, Bullingham said there is an “understandable nervousness” that this may place an added pressure on the referees, which is “hard enough as it is”.

“We are taking a step in the right direction with announcing the decision and explaining why it has been reached,” he added. “Let’s see if that leads to further progression.”

Fellow Ifab member Patrick Nelson, chief executive of the Irish Football Association, said: “We just need to see more evidence on this at the moment.

“It’s interesting when we look at recent examples but we still need to remember that VAR, as an entire concept, is relatively in its infancy compared to the game of football and compared to Ifab. There is still more that we can learn.”

VAR to revisit clear mistakes?

Audio recordings of discussions between the match officials around Diaz’s disallowed goal against Tottenham were made public by referees’ body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

VAR England said the check was “perfect”, before swearing when he realises a mistake has been made.

Currently, VARs are prevented from revisiting a decision once play has restarted, but this could be something Ifab look to change in the future.It could be updated to allow a decision to be revisited where a clear mistake has occurred and where no significant action has taken place since play restarted.

Bullingham said he was also aware Ifab had been asked to discuss widening the scope of VAR to rule on decisions such as the awards of corners and free-kicks.

VAR is currently only able to intervene on decisions surrounding goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.

“I think we would be really reluctant to have a game that was stopped a lot more than it currently is, but that will be a proper discussion,” said Bullingham.