ASCPFC
Member
- Location
- Pro-Cathedral/caravan park
- Country
- Ireland
Rugby league is generally better - the ref watches the replay himself on the big screen in general, straight away. Incredibly quick and I've never seen complaints.For me, VAR authority is the wrong way round for decisions where interpretation is required.
If you take the West Ham v Man U pen, this is how a rugby referee would have dealt with it:
1) Instinct not to give a pen and play on.
2) When play stops, David goes upstairs and says, 'Michael, I want to see collision in the penalty area. My onfield view was no penalty, I want to see if there's anything more to it.'
3) Michael 'Here is the footage David'
4) David 'Right what I can see is two players running into the same space and coming together. Although there is some contact, this is not a foul. Michael, your view?'
5) Michael, something along the lines of 'That interpretation is a fair representation of the footage'
6) David 'Thank you Michael. I will stick with my onfield decision of no penalty'
In other words, the VAR official has a lower authority to than the match referee. This is because he's the one reffing the game. I mean, it's not rocket science.
My issue with the rugby union situation is the constant checking and the time it takes. Then say SA score, nothing checked despite an obvious penalty. Then England scored and it's rewinded five minutes trying to find reasons not to award things. Which brings us back to the big team football situation.