Premier League’s VAR System: A Model for the World?
In the ever-evolving world of football, the Premier League is making waves with its approach to Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology. The league believes its referees are setting a benchmark that other leagues aspire to emulate. This confidence is backed by the latest statistics, which reveal a 35% reduction in video review errors compared to last season.
As we dive into the 2023-24 campaign, after 23 rounds, the Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel has recorded 13 mistakes, a significant drop from the 20 errors logged at the same stage last season. This improvement is noteworthy, especially considering the high stakes and intense scrutiny that come with Premier League matches.
However, it’s not all smooth sailing. The KMI Panel has observed that VAR has incorrectly intervened to change an on-field decision four times this season, which is one more than the previous campaign. On a brighter note, there have been only nine missed interventions, a marked improvement from the 17 recorded a year ago. For those interested in the nitty-gritty details, the full list of errors this season is available at the end of this article.
Tony Scholes, the Premier League’s chief football officer, is optimistic about the progress made. Despite some controversial high-profile incidents, he insists that significant strides have been achieved. “The feedback that I’m getting is that the vast majority of clubs recognize significant progress in this area,” Scholes said. “Other leagues around the world all look up to the match officials in this country, and indeed the VAR process and VAR officials in this country as a model that they would like to follow. Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way here in England, but that’s the message that I get from people around the world.”
Interestingly, this sentiment is echoed beyond the English borders. On Tuesday, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti suggested that LaLiga should consider bringing in referees from England to enhance their standards. This idea is also supported by Los Blancos president Florentino Pérez.
The KMI Panel, which consists of five members—three former players and one representative each from the Premier League and the referees’ body, the PGMOL—plays a crucial role in this process. Scholes explained, “Assessments of the officials used to be carried out by the PGMOL themselves, and the accusation was that they were marking their own homework. The level of credibility of the accuracy results was questioned by clubs and everyone else in the game. So we thought it was important to introduce some kind of independence and objective measure of the accuracy.”
He continued, “[The Panel members] go through rigorous training exercises in the laws of the game, and the interpretation by the match officials on those laws. I’m not going to suggest that this is perfection, it absolutely isn’t. But it’s as good as we can get to provide an objective measure of performance by which we can benchmark how the officials are doing season by season.”
Scholes acknowledges the gravity of a single error, stating, “Nobody underestimates the significance and the impact of one single error. We know that one single error can cost clubs points, can cost them results, can cost managers positions, potentially players their place. They are significant, they’re hugely important in a game of such high stakes. So our absolute objective is to reduce that number down as far as we can, but I think we should also just sort of recognize a couple of points.”
He highlighted that there have been 70 VAR interventions in 239 games, which translates to less than one in three games. “It shows that the interference of VAR is perhaps not at the level that many of us perceive. And in the view of the KMI Panel, and I will just say it is their view so people are entitled to differ, 66 of those interventions have been correct.”
Scholes emphasized the importance of acknowledging progress, stating, “It’s absolutely right that we keep pushing these officials, we push them to be as good as they can be, but it’s also right that we acknowledge the progress that is being made. At the league, we do that because we do not get the best performance out of people who we are constantly criticizing, constantly beating up over errors made. It’s right that we should recognize the progress and I see that progress in the results.”
He also praised the efforts of referees’ chief Howard Webb and his team, who are working tirelessly on the training of the team and the VAR. “They are focused on a smaller number of VARs to ensure the efficiency and the accuracy is as good as it can be. A pool of specialist VARs have come from existing referees, but also referees who are operating further down the pyramid. There’s a pool of a dozen who’ve operated over 85% of all Premier League games this year and that’s part of the reason for why there’s been an improvement in accuracy and efficiency.”
While progress is evident, Scholes conceded that much work remains to enhance the experience for supporters. He noted that the average delay caused by a VAR review has decreased by 31 seconds to 40 seconds this season. “It comes at an inevitable cost and that’s the delays to the game caused by a VAR intervention,” Scholes added. “So our target is to reduce those delays as much as we possibly can.”
He also stressed the importance of providing fans in the stadium with as much information as those watching from home. “Our objective is to make sure that supporters in the stadium have at least as much information, at least an equal experience to those at home to make sure that they’re not sat there in ignorance.”
To address this, the league has introduced new protocols for showing more replays on the giant screens. “We’re still not there. We want to get to a place where we have full visibility and full audio of the conversation between the referee and the VAR.”
Scholes acknowledged the constraints imposed by FIFA but expressed a commitment to improving the system as much as possible. “None of us here at the league believe it’s good enough and we’ve a long way to go to improving it. We’re constrained by FIFA, but we should improve it to the extent that we are able and authorized to do so. Our view on this is that the more people can see, the more people can understand.”
In a groundbreaking move, Stuart Attwell became the first referee to announce the outcome of a VAR review to the stadium crowd during a Carabao Cup tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool last month. Scholes confirmed plans to roll this out to the Premier League at the start of next season. “The plan is to see how that goes in the following rounds of the Carabao Cup with the intention, the desire to introduce it into Premier League next season,” Scholes confirmed.
Additionally, Scholes revealed that “significant progress” has been made with testing of semi-automated VAR offside technology (SAOT) in recent weeks, with plans to introduce it this season. “We are still testing it, but we are making significant progress,” Scholes revealed. “Now I’m hopeful that at some point this season we will be able to introduce semi-automated technology but I repeat the points I’ve made a number of times. We are not going to introduce it if we’ve got any doubts at all with regards to its operation.”
All 13 VAR errors in the Premier League this season
- Incorrect interventions (4)
- AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle United, Aug. 25
Dango Ouattara goal disallowed for handball (’90+2) - West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United, Oct. 27
Penalty awarded for a foul by Matthijs de Ligt on Danny Ings (’90+2) - Everton 0-0 Brentford, Nov. 23
Christian Nørgaard sent off for serious foul play (’39) - Nottingham Forest 3-2 Southampton, Jan. 19
No Chris Wood offside offence on goal (’64)
- Missed interventions (9)
- Man United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur, Sept. 29
Serious foul play, red card to Bruno Fernandes (’41) - Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace, Nov. 23
DOGSO, red card not given to Ian Maatsen (’65) - Everton 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers, Dec. 4
Abdoulaye Doucouré offside offence on goal (’72) - Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa, Dec. 14
Penalty not awarded. Foul by Elliot Anderson (’34)* - West Ham 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion, Dec. 21
Serious foul play, red card not given to Pervis Estupiñán (’84) - Brighton 0-0 Brentford, Dec. 27
Violent conduct, red card not given to João Pedro (’75) - West Ham 0-5 Liverpool, Dec. 29
Penalty not awarded. Foul by Alexis Mac Allister (’35) - Ipswich Town 0-2 Brighton, Jan. 19
Penalty not awarded. Foul by Wes Burns (’11) - Wolves 0-1 Arsenal, Jan. 25
Serious foul play, red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly (’43)
*Panel stated the penalty may not have been awarded due to a prior foul but this should have been decided on review.
Originally Written by: Dale Johnson
