VAR - In our league: Yay or Nay?

[John William]

I do not like Argentinians and in particular one little fat cheating count for whom VAR came too late.

Having spent a bit of time in Argentina from BA to Ushuaia, I have to say that they are from my experience pleasant people and very Anglophile, the Falklands notwithstanding (which they generally don't seem to care about and regard as a bit of political diversion). Condemning a whole nation on the basis of the behaviour of one of its footballers seems a bit unfair.

Also their beef is the best in the world, you can cut an Argentinian steak with the side of your fork.

 

[Jason H]

I think the issue with the penalty was that handball and any associated intent is often impossible to determine with any accuracy unless it's blatant. Yesterday's fell, for me, into the category of "seen them given" but that shouldn't have been enough for the VAR refs, or whatever we call them, to refer it for review. Isn't there something about it being clear and obvious?

Exactly. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread about Cricket, DRS was meant for the same thing i.e. to clear up "obvious" errors, yet is used to determine if the ball was going to hit the outside millimetre of the off stump based on technology that isn't actually all that.

So many calls in Football are interpretive rather than FCAT, yesterday's was one of those, and is why VAR for me is a no.

 

[Alistair20000]

Having spent a bit of time in Argentina from BA to Ushuaia, I have to say that they are from my experience pleasant people and very Anglophile, the Falklands notwithstanding (which they generally don't seem to care about and regard as a bit of political diversion). Condemning a whole nation on the basis of the behaviour of one of its footballers seems a bit unfair.

Also their beef is the best in the world, you can cut an Argentinian steak with the side of your fork.

You are of course right about over generalisation and I have no experience of their "ordinary" people. I will refocus my wrath on certain politicians, the Junta and the cheating count.

I have had good and bad Argentinian beef, assuming the provenance was honestly reported.

 

[IndoMike]

You are of course right about over generalisation and I have no experience of their "ordinary" people. I will refocus my wrath on certain politicians, the Junta and the cheating count.

I have had good and bad Argentinian beef, assuming the provenance was honestly reported.

Perhaps your wrath could also be partly aimed at the Americans, who at the time were very fond of creating and/or propping up dictatorships in Latin America.

 

[Antony Moxey]

I guess as it's pretty much impossible to determine whether a handball is deliberate or not, it should be nigh-on impossible to award a penalty for handball ever. Surely, for the overwhelming majority of cases, only the handballer would ever know for certain whether it was deliberate or not.

 

[crocks]

Back in my day..... it was only handball if it was hand to ball i.e there was a positive movement of the hand to the ball. Nowadays a defender could be 10 inches away and the ball strikes his (or her) hand and its a pen.

 

[IndoMike]

I guess as it's pretty much impossible to determine whether a handball is deliberate or not, it should be nigh-on impossible to award a penalty for handball ever. Surely, for the overwhelming majority of cases, only the handballer would ever know for certain whether it was deliberate or not.

Perhaps with all the technology they are introducing they could have a lie detector on standby and ask a player if he intended to handball or not.

 

[citydrinker]

I guess as it's pretty much impossible to determine whether a handball is deliberate or not, it should be nigh-on impossible to award a penalty for handball ever. Surely, for the overwhelming majority of cases, only the handballer would ever know for certain whether it was deliberate or not.

I take your point, but only to a certain extent. The bottom line is that most hand balls that I have seen in the penalty area in 50 odd years have been obvious. What we have in the World Cup Final is a referee who changed his mind on very dubious evidence. I cannot understand, given the rules, how he can be certain. If VAR is to succeed, I hate to say this, but the final decision should not rest with the referee. I saw at least two extremely contentious decisions not reversed by the ref. I can't help thinking that personal pride and obstinacy played a part. No one likes to admit they are wrong.

 

[Antony Moxey]

You say obvious, but by the strict definition it isn't. The definition is 'deliberate', in which case it's very difficult to determine whether it is actually deliberate or not.

 

[PeteUSA]

What we have in the World Cup Final is a referee who changed his mind on very dubious evidence. I saw at least two extremely contentious decisions not reversed by the ref. I can't help thinking that personal pride and obstinacy played a part. No one likes to admit they are wrong.

Apart from the penalty he eventually awarded, I dont think anybody saw the other 'foul' in real time when Greasman simulated a dive perfectly. It was only following slow-mo examination that it became clear the french player had cheated. There was no obvious reason to review that. The simulation was perfect.