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Refereeing sure is a thankless job and a football referee is often painted as the pantomime villain when things have gone south.
Despite the high standards and benchmarks that they set, there are bound to be mistakes as it is to err is human.
So, if technology can erase even those minutest of mistakes, the world's top referees are all for it. England's Mark Cluttenberg, who officiated the Euro 2016 final, as well as Italian Nicola Rizzoli, who stood in the final of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, gave the thumbs up to FIFA's VAR Experimentation (Video Assistant Referees). The bottom line was to get it right.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), during its 130th Annual General Meeting in Cardiff, Wales, in March this year, approved the trials of VAR over a two-year period. And in a first, it was recently used during the Club World Cup in Japan.
The VAR is a panel of two or three top level referees, who will operate from within the stadium and will have access to broadcast feeds. They can then communicate with the on-field referee with regard to goals, penalty decisions, red card incidents and mistaken identity. The VAR will intervene only if the video review will show a "clear match changing error." The on-field referee can then review it on a monitor, placed pitch side, and then take the final decision.
Further trials are set to take place in different parts of the world and new FIFA President Gianni Infantino is keen on having in time for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
"We want the system going forwards. We want to correct the mistakes. Every referee wants to make the right decision and eliminate the errors," Clattenburg said at the 11th Dubai International Sports Conference on Tuesday. The Englishman was part of a three-man panel that included Rizzoli as well as UAEFA's Ali Hamad.
Famous referee Pierluigi Collina, winner of the FIFA Best Referee of the Year, six consecutive times, and is now the UEFA Chief Refereeing Officer, moderated the session. "Sometimes, a referee could be in a not so ideal position on the pitch and cannot see it clearly. So, you are bound to miss it and then make a mistake. So, this will help in eliminating those errors," added Clattenburg. "The main thing is the referee is control of the situation right though. We have to have the best way to use it. So, it is about experience," said Rizzoli.
Meanwhile, Portuguese Football Federation President Fernando Gomes as well as Italian Football Association President Carlo Tavecchio felt that Infantino's idea of expanding the World Cup to 48 teams was a good initiative. "Giving opportunity to more countries is democratic. Of course, there are more sides to the coin in implementing this new format. But I think it is a good initiative," said Tavecchio. "There has been discussions but in principle we support it," Gomes said.
The first session of the conference involved Umberto Gandini, CEO of AS Roma and Dariusz Mioduski, owner of Polish club Legia Varsavia, and they spoke on 'The importance of governance in the success of professional football club.'
james@khaleejtimes.com
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