Matic
Alert Team
We have had other VAR and ref threads in recent seasons, but I'm starting this one because I feel we have entered a very inevitable, but dodgy area.
Liverpool have released a statement in regards to VAR not intervening in their disallowed goal.
The last paragraph is key. As the stakes have risen financially, I've wondered how long it will take before clubs start exploring "options" and whether those options will be legal, financial, both or other.
What happens from here? Does it desend into never-ending back and forth a between clubs and the PGMOL? It feels like we could enter a particularly dark moment for refereeing, which in many ways is completely self-inflicted.
Liverpool have released a statement in regards to VAR not intervening in their disallowed goal.
Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
That such failings have already been categorised as “significant human error” is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.
The last paragraph is key. As the stakes have risen financially, I've wondered how long it will take before clubs start exploring "options" and whether those options will be legal, financial, both or other.
What happens from here? Does it desend into never-ending back and forth a between clubs and the PGMOL? It feels like we could enter a particularly dark moment for refereeing, which in many ways is completely self-inflicted.