Off Topic - Video Referee
ITV4 showed France vs Spain tonight (friendly) which had the video referee being trialed. The video ref had a huge impact on the game and the final result. The technology correctly overruled a France goal and also correctly awarded Spain a goal which had originally been ruled out for offside. So was it a success?
On one I would say absolutely as it clearly put right mistakes made by the officials (both offsides which to be fair were quite tight). On the other hand it did cause a few problems in my opinion, both decisions took a minute which lead to confusion to all supporters inside the ground but also lead to the entire Spain team surrounding the referee to force him to check the technology to rule out the France goal. At the start of the season referees tried to make a point to stop players surrounding the referee but tonight not just two or three Spanish players confronted the ref but all eleven. Another question thrown up is when does the video get used? It was effective in making sure goals were correctly awarded but should it have been used when France should have clearly had a penalty which was missed by the refs?
Assuming the video technology does come into the top levels of football, when and how will it get used and could it be abused by players trying to force the refs to check everything? How much will it stop the flow of play and how much confusion will it cause to supporters in the ground who might have to wait to find out if their team has or has not scored a goal? Should the referee get free reign as to when it gets used or should the players/managers get to ask the ref to use it, do you perhaps bring in a number of reviews per match a team can use like in cricket?
Even with the uncertainties with how it might be used/abused I still think it has to be the way forward to help make sure the right decisions get made. But I do wonder how much affect it will have on the enjoyment and entertainment for the paying fans inside the stadium as they don’t know whether to cheer for a goal or wait a minute to find out the goal doesn’t stand.