Video assistant refereeing is set to be used at the World Cup:

 

From BBC Sport:

 

Video assistant referees are set to be used at this year's World Cup in Russia after football's lawmakers voted to approve the technology.

 

VAR has been trialled in some domestic English cup games this season, and has been used in Germany and Italy.

 

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) "unanimously approved" its introduction on a permanent basis after a meeting in Zurich on Saturday.

 

Leagues and competitions must now apply to Ifab to implement the technology.

 

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said a decision on whether VAR will be used to the World Cup will be taken at a meeting on 16 March.

 

"As of today, video assistant refereeing is part of football," he said.

 

"We hope and encourage a favourable decision in this respect because we are very positive about VAR."

 

Ifab is made up of the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as Fifa.

 

Each FA has one vote, while world football's governing body has four votes and six are required for a change in the laws.

 

The decision over VAR was made after they were presented with the results of the independent analysis of the use of the system conducted by Belgian university KU Leuven since March 2016.

 

"I would say to the fans, players and coaches that it will have an impact, a positive impact," said Infantino. "That is what the results of the study show.

 

"From almost 1,000 live matches that were part of the experiment, the level of the accuracy increased from 93% to 99%. It's almost perfect."

 

He added: "I was pretty much against it a couple of years ago but I studied it.

 

"We have looked into all the details and benefits it can bring. Of course, we need to speed up the reviews and the communication to the referees that are applying it but also for the general public."

 

 

What do you make of this?

 

 

 

I wonder if the BBC and ITV will be extending their programme times to allow for all the delays.

 

Assuming it is used in all matches, that means that many referees will be getting their first experience of VAR in a World Cup match. With the clear problems we have been seeing, that seems to be asking for trouble. There also seems to be a potential language problem. If the referee has to communicate with the video referee in a foreign language, that won't be easy with the crowd noise and being unable to see the official they are talking to.

 

 

I wonder if the BBC and ITV will be extending their programme times to allow for all the delays.

 

Assuming it is used in all matches, that means that many referees will be getting their first experience of VAR in a World Cup match. With the clear problems we have been seeing, that seems to be asking for trouble. There also seems to be a potential language problem. If the referee has to communicate with the video referee in a foreign language, that won't be easy with the crowd noise and being unable to see the official they are talking to.

 

I think the trials have been a little more successful in Germany and Italy. Obviously the system is not perfect yet and it still needs a lot of work and video replays on screens for fans etc. otherwise it just causes confusion.

 

 

I'm against this, I quite like the unpredictability of the World Cup and I honestly don't care if there's not 100% accuracy.

You just know that something controversial will happen to England, something like Lampard's goal that got disallowed at the 2010 World Cup. Hopefully VAR wont disrupt the flow of matches as much as it has done in this season's FA Cup.

I wonder if the BBC and ITV will be extending their programme times to allow for all the delays.

 

Assuming it is used in all matches, that means that many referees will be getting their first experience of VAR in a World Cup match. With the clear problems we have been seeing, that seems to be asking for trouble. There also seems to be a potential language problem. If the referee has to communicate with the video referee in a foreign language, that won't be easy with the crowd noise and being unable to see the official they are talking to.

 

Yes it probably isn't the best time to introduce it - we could quite easily see games descend into farce like the 1st half of the recent Spurs v Rochdale FA Cup replay. As others here I'm against it for the time being, especially with all the delays to play it seems to cause.

Yes it probably isn't the best time to introduce it - we could quite easily see games descend into farce like the 1st half of the recent Spurs v Rochdale FA Cup replay. As others here I'm against it for the time being, especially with all the delays to play it seems to cause.

 

I'm also against the delays too, but it has to be used at some point to trial it. I think the problem right now is referees don't really understand it and they use it as a bit of a cop out if they are unsure of situations. I like the suggestion that it should only be used for certain calls otherwise it just. The idea is right, it just needs some real work doing to it.

If it is to be trialled anywhere by internationals, perhaps they should have done it for international friendlies first. Going straight into a tournament seems wrong. After the delays and problems with VAR that we have witnessed this season, perhaps we should wait a bit longer for the problems to be ironed out.

Have to remember a lot of the referees will be using VAR at the World Cup for the first time, not an ideal situation. Can get all the practise they want but matches are different. It's gonna be a right mess.

Still think that this could be a huge mess with controversy.

Oh it undoubtedly will be and I can't wait for the fallout & overreaction *_*

It will probably be England that will be on the receiving end of VAR controversy.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything to suggest that VAR will be used in penalty shoot-outs to check whether the goalkeeper moved off his line. It seems a really obvious use for technology.

Yep that is such a "non-rule" in football, as is encroachment. Very very little consistency when they are fleetingly applied too.

I've heard that assistant referees have been told to keep their flag down for tight offside calls to enable VAR to make the correct decision.

 

 

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything to suggest that VAR will be used in penalty shoot-outs to check whether the goalkeeper moved off his line. It seems a really obvious use for technology.

 

If they could just use VAR to stop strikers from 'hesitating' right before shooting. :lol:

 

 

I think it'll be great if VAR takes away non-offsides plays that would been called originally and leads to more goals.

I've heard that assistant referees have been told to keep their flag down for tight offside calls to enable VAR to make the correct decision.

That one makes sense. If a striker is marginally offside but there's no goal, who cares?

VAR has been what for you so far?

A complete disaster... see the absolute shambles of the France v Australia game from Saturday. It just doesn't work at all (as we all predicted in this thread)!

It's not been that bad. At least it gives the ref another chance to view an incident before deciding, obviously on the contentious issues there'll be arguments both for and against the decisions made. Also that Pogba goal wouldn't have been given much like Lampard in 2010!

 

It worked perfectly in the South Korea & Egypt games with the pens. My main concern is why it ISN'T being used in cases like with the England game and the potential Kane fouls.