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The Premier League have told clubs and managers that overt criticism of VAR damages the competition, amid the feeling that it became too easy a response after games, as the competition implements a six-point plan to improve VAR.
That will primarily involve a new “referee’s call”, influenced by other sports, where the threshold for VAR to intervene will be significantly raised. Officials will meanwhile be encouraged to come to act decisively if they do resort to the screen, and to not keep looking at the same camera angles.
The handball laws have also been evolved by IFAB, and will be more down to “subjective judgement”, where “not every touch is an offence” and hand and arm position will be more judged “in relation to body movement”. A key idea is that players will not be expected to move with their arms by their side or behind their back.
That could well see the “referee’s call” tested more than any other, but the motivation there is that the on-pitch decision will stand unless there is readily available evidence that demonstrates a clear mistake. The Premier League are keen to move away from the current situation that sees decisions given when neither players nor spectators see anything wrong, or when even VAR requires forensic scrutiny.
The six-point plan otherwise aims to:
- Improve the clarity of threshold for VAR intervention.
- Reduce delays to the game, which includes the introduction of the semi-automated office.
- Improve the fan experience so they are more aware of why a decision is being taken, right up to referee announcements.
- Improve VAR training and consistency.
- Improve transparency.
- Superior education and communications plan, which has involved key messaging across clubs and the media.
It was the last point that was stressed in meetings with Premier League clubs and managers before the new season, amid a feeling that it was too easy to resort to criticisms of the system. For the clubs’ part, some pointed out they felt media interviews too readily went in this direction.
Premier League voting makes clear that the clubs want to keep VAR, albeit with considerable improvements, although the Football Supporters Association did criticise a survey released that shows 77% of Premier League followers and attendees wanted to stick with the system.
The fans’ group said “all of our work on VAR since its introduction into English football has shown it is deeply, deeply unpopular with match-going fans”, while stating that such polls “make the Premier League appear to be in denial”. Over 1,300 people were surveyed for the competition’s own results. The FSA’s poll showed 63.3% of fans against VAR.