The A-League performed its role as Fifa’s mineshaft canary with aplomb this weekend. The penultimate round of the regular season hosted the first professional league trials of the contentious video assistant referee system and it delivered plenty of useful data.
The five matches played out as well as officials could have hoped. In line with pre-trial expectations only one decision required overturning; that landmark judgement was uncontroversial and caused only a minor interruption to play.
The most contentious fixture proved to be the F3 derby where two strong penalty claims were rejected on review. According to VAR Kris Griffiths-Jones neither handball satisfied the trial protocol designed to maintain the on-field official’s authority. The key guideline reads: “The referee’s decision can only be changed if the video review shows a clear error i.e. not ‘was the decision correct?’ but: ‘was the decision clearly wrong?’.”
To proponents of the system, like Kevin Muscat, the round will have reinforced their belief that a referee with access to replays of an incident from multiple camera angles will lead to more accurate decision making and a more just competition. “I am all for it,” the Melbourne Victory coach said before his side’s 0-0 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers. “Let’s give it a go rather than having to jump up and down when we don’t get things right.” For advocates of the status quo, there was no “I told you so” doomsday moment but the lack of intervention in Gosford when penalties looked possible will have done nothing to win over some hearts and minds.
With only one overturned decision to scrutinise, fans and pundits spent much of the weekend considering hypotheticals. What if there is a goal during the VAR deliberation process? What if there’s no natural break in play to initiate a VAR review? This is all part of the beta testing process we’re part of and a factor that should be harnessed by FFA and Fifa to plug gaps in their communication and bolster their protocols.
Clint Bolton, a two-time A-League champion with Sydney FC, had reservations heading into the round. “The main feeling from people I spoke to was one of trepidation,” Bolton told Guardian Australia. “It felt inevitable that this type of change would come in but we have examples in other sports where it hasn’t worked and it’s been a distraction. The key area was always going to be the time it takes to make decisions and what impact that has on the product overall.”
Sydney’s reviewed penalty award against Wellington Phoenix allayed some of those fears. It took 16 seconds from the original handball for Shaun Evans to blow his whistle for offside and pause the game, and a further 14 to signal the square TV hand gesture. Fifty seconds later Evans was pointing to the penalty spot. “It looked pretty seamless,” according to Bolton. “It looked like it had existed for years already. It just looked like it was handled very well in the moment, considering it was the very first time.”
If one 80-second interruption per round remains the norm, the VAR footprint will be only a minor inconvenience. It’a an intervention Bolton thinks players will welcome to guarantee decision-making accuracy. “You place more importance on the right decision as a player. You’re not looking at the game as entertainment. It’s result driven and you want the right outcome. If it goes against you, you can live with it because it’s the correct decision.”
Friday night’s fixture between Melbourne City and Adelaide United did not require any VAR input, but as the first match in the round – and therefore anywhere in professional club football – to utilise the system, it faced the greatest scrutiny. But there was little of note at AAMI Park to suggest history would be made in Melbourne, aside from a couple of confrontations involving Iacopo La Rocca.
Curiously this milestone event was overseen by a former, not current, A-League referee. Strebre Delovski only retired at the end of last season after a highly regarded career, and he remains a referee coach, but his appointment raises the question of who should be responsible for applying VAR decisions. Other sports that already use review technology have shown an adaptation towards specialised officials – the NRL’s bunker being a high profile example.
One of the benefits of using Delovski was shown in his ability to handle a pre-match interview on his debut in his new role. These opportunities are vital to communicate not only the implementation of VARs and allay fans’ fears but also improve relations between officials and supporters in general. Frustration and dissatisfaction with referees often stems from a lack of understanding about the latest law interpretation or specific guidance from the Asian Football Confederation or Fifa. This much is evident from impromptu discussions with FFA officials in media boxes around the country – most supporters don’t have that access. In recent days FFA have provided widespread access to Ben Wilson, its director of referees, in an effort to get its message across through the media. This should remain an ongoing policy, especially to address VAR concerns, such as those raised by fans of Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets.
Ahead of the second round of trial matches the one area that can expect further attention is the behaviour of players remonstrating with referees to call for reviews. The instructions before the round were that any players seen to be doing so would be issued with a yellow card. Despite a number of apparent incidents, no players were booked for such dissent. “I thought they handled it with some common sense,” Bolton pointed out. “This is new to everyone and I can understand that in the moment it’s their instinct to appeal but to think you could get a yellow card for appealing seems a bit strange now. It’s going to take a while not only for a player to get their head around that situation but also for a referee who wouldn’t feel good about dishing out a yellow card just for that.”
The A-League canary heads back down the mine next weekend to perform more exploratory work for Fifa. If round 27 follows the template set in round 26 the rollout of VARs in other leagues will come another step closer.
