The Soucek VAR farce has forced the Premier League to ask the tough questions
West Ham United’s hopes for a thrilling last-minute win against Aston Villa turned sour on Sunday, all thanks to a VAR intervention that dragged on for a torturous five minutes and 37 seconds.
Fans at the London Stadium erupted with joy when Tomas Soucek netted what looked like the winning goal. Yet, their elation quickly turned to frustration as VAR stepped in, leaving the stadium in a state of confusion during an agonizing wait for a verdict.
The delay left supporters bewildered, with no clarity on what exactly was being reviewed. The mood shifted from jubilant to tense as the uncertainty lingered.
This incident rekindles concerns about VAR that the Premier League highlighted just a month prior. The league had expressed dissatisfaction with the PGMOL over lengthy VAR delays, acknowledging their detrimental impact on the fan experience.
Soucek VAR farce has not impressed the EPL
Understandably disheartened, West Ham appears to have reluctantly accepted the VAR decision, choosing not to challenge it with the PGMOL.
The Premier League is expected to demand an explanation from the PGMOL regarding the prolonged delay in the Soucek decision. This episode underscores the necessity for improved communication with fans during VAR reviews.
The PGMOL might face mounting pressure to enforce stricter time limits to prevent such disruptions from affecting the flow of the game.
The VAR controversy persists. While the technology aims to enhance officiating accuracy, issues like prolonged delays and a lack of transparency can overshadow its advantages. The challenge for the Premier League and PGMOL remains in effectively utilizing VAR, ensuring it adds to, rather than detracts from, the enjoyment of the game for fans.
Knowing how many bad decisions we got before VAR I thought it would Brest as it would even up the playing field but it hasn’t we continue to be in the top 1 or 2 every season for injustices. So may as well give VAR the red card and every referee and linesman at the same time. AI could do a better job than those at PGMOL
As you say, the problem with VAR isn’t the technology it’s the human.
The game is being sanitised. The decision-making ‘accuracy’ may have changed with the VA bit, but the R bit remains just as keen to grab the limelight and make it all about them.
VAR was a triumph at the World Cup in Russia. Speedy decisions that added a sense of excitement.
But as usual, along come us British to ruin it all with dithering, perfunctory, mind-sapping complexity.
It’s not the tech, it’s the referees.
They should be getting 30 seconds to look back at decisions at normal speed (except for offsides, which should be based on the position of the front-most foot on the ground). All handballs, regardless of intent, should result in a foul (just to add to the drama!) 🙂
The PGMOL are clueless beurocrats who don’t give two hoots about the fans – only their own sense of power.