A few weeks ago, West Ham United were denied a clear penalty when Crysencio Summerville was pulled back inside the box. VAR ruled then that there was minimal – ‘not sustained’ were I think the words used – contact on the attacker and that the on-field decision should stand. At that time I wrote an article entitled ‘Most Definitely Not Fit For Purpose when I suggested that the new directive for VAR was failing: The Premier League web-site claimed in August that VAR would become ‘used with a ‘lighter touch’ whilst relying more on referee’s call and only picking out the dreadful mistakes and seeking to overturn them.’
‘The penalty that never was’ – courtesy of VAR
How on earth was that a ‘dreadful mistake’ yesterday that ended in West Ham receiving the most dubious penalty I’ve seen awarded by VAR. I don’t remember a player even appealing apart from Ings who lay on the ground for ever afterwards. I don’t blame him at all but there were no supporting shouts, no remarks from the commentary team- it was a huge surprise to all when the on-field review was suggested.
Fine- so we may have benefitted this time. But how is it in the interests of fairness, of the benefit of the spectacle, when such poor decisions are repeated and frankly magnified by the use of video which resulted in the awarding of a penalty which even the most die-hard West Ham supporter would have to agree was ‘soft’.
Reported in dailymail.co.uk, with a subheading reading:
‘David Coote awarded West Ham’s penalty in win over Man United because he didn’t want to ‘UPSET a superior’ after VAR Michael Oliver recommended a review’.
Gary Neville – admittedly as unbiased as me – suggested ‘I’m not sure David Coote was anywhere near thinking it was a penalty, and it was a big shock.”
“Every team gets a bad decision but that wasn’t right. The interesting thing was he [on-field referee ] must have watched it eight times when he went to the monitor. I’m screaming at the TV ‘he doesn’t think it’s a penalty’ but then he overturns his original decision,’
It is ruining the game when play is pulled back for a slow motion replay to be pored over for about five minutes in the effort to justify changing a decision. Better to rely on the on-field call and do away with the whole VAR machinery as an unproven gimmick. At least then for the 60,000 plus spectators there would be genuine, flowing entertainment instead of “stop-start-maybe-no-yes- what” – going on. It is ruining the spectacle.
These mistakes are worse than when we relied upon the man in black in the middle. No doubt some West Ham fans will say ‘who cares, we got three points out of a VAR mistake’ – but look at the bigger picture, please – week on week these errors are eroding the spectacle, the genuine independence of the man in black and the integrity of the sport as conspiracy theories abound.
And ‘that’ decision might have cost one manager his job. Is that right?
not wishing to offend anyone , and obviously not the so called unbiased experts on sky or motd who change their stance on similar incidents week in week out depending on which teams are playing and whether it’s one of their favs on not , but Ings got kicked and the ball did not , whether there was enough force for it to be a penalty I don’t know but perhaps if the 2 players were in their own space and not surrounded by other players then it would have been perceived to have been more of a clear offence , as for being fair well I can remember a ball being played down the line and being so far out of play that it was over row Z and man u running on to score in a previous encounter so I’m not feeling too bad if a decision has gone in our favour for once
Fair comments Phil, but completely disagree with the view that penalty decision cost that manager his job. I’m sure every football fan is sick of VAR, but maybe in the near future it will be erased. I did notice in that game that more decisions were being acknowledged from the linesman, call me old fashioned but surely that is the decision making in the moment and seems much swifter and fairer than video analysis
De Ligt did tackle through Ings and Ings may have had a swing at the ball had he not been fouled . Automated offside will help VAR , perhaps automated line calls are needed to correct the average dozen or more line call mistakes that are made in each game. Penalty calls will tend to be subjective all the time that some shirt pulling/holding is allowed as well as a degree of contact . Change the rules to no shirt pulling/holding and any lower leg contact prior to ball contact is 100 percent penalty . Clarity is what’s needed .