The handball rule is the problem, not VAR

What conspiracy theory? I honestly don't know what you're talking about.

My point was that introducing VAR has necessitated rule changes where they weren't needed. Taking us further from how the game has always been played for no good reason other than some strange desire to reduce every decision in the game to a binary yes or no, regardless whether it makes sense in that context or not.

It's not a conspiracy, it's the inevitable end game when you put people who don't really understand or care for the sport in charge of it.

We've lost sight of what's important, and changing more rules because VAR doesn't work is only taking us further from the game we all love.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti change. But change should be better. And you can blame the officials all you like but there's always going to be people and some level of subjectivity involved.. if you can't make peace with that you're better off playing FM than watching football.

BTW what does miking up the ref actually solve? It'll just wind up people even more when they disagree with the decision.

The solution is to stop obsessing over every decision being 'correct'. It's not making the game better, and frankly it's impossible.

VAR is also the problem, not the system itself, but the communication of the decision.

If we used the rugby system the ref would be speaking to the VAR and everyone could hear it. You would then be able to hear the reasoning which makes the decision for the fans much easier to understand and accept.

Because football reffing is often a game of judgement, to be able to hear reasoning is so much better.

If you could hear the ref speaking with the VAR and saying "yes, i can seen the ball has hit his hand but it is not deliberate, it has not changed the outcome as Greenwood still has the ball, and maybe Greenwoods arm is pushing the defenders arm up a bit...I am happy to not give a penalty" at least you could understand his arguments. Again its a game of judgements and sometimes fans need to accept that not everyone will form the same judgement but at least they can have a chance at understanding an explanation of the decision, rather than having no explanation at all.

Others also need to take some responsibly , such as managers & players, and moderate their comments after the game. Big surprise that the United lot thought it was a pen. but there is no need to go bleating about it in the media because the decision was not that clear cut.

VAR has it own problem, I'm not disagree with that. My problem as in the title, they need to revert that handball rule asap. Just leave it to the ref to decide if the handball is intentional or not. It's not just United thought it was a pen. Alan Shearer on MOTD also said it should be a pen based on the law.

Should be noted that refs are mic'd up already. I just isn't broadcast.

The older ones of us will surely remember Paul Durkin coming out and explaining not giving a blatant penalty to Newcastle against Man United. A lot of people had sympathy for him, but how long will that last if refs are making excuses week after week. Exposing their incompetence won't help and I think that is why they don't allow the conversations to be aired.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 42 minutes ago
Should be noted that refs are mic'd up already. I just isn't broadcast.

The older ones of us will surely remember Paul Durkin coming out and explaining not giving a blatant penalty to Newcastle against Man United. A lot of people had sympathy for him, but how long will that last if refs are making excuses week after week. Exposing their incompetence won't help and I think that is why they don't allow the conversations to be aired.
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Exactly. They are still getting to grips with new processes they have to follow and whilst they are doing this, they're not going to air it.

Look at the Wales and England rugby game. They came out and stated that mistakes were made. The discussion going on with the referee didn't help anything.

comment by There'sOnlyOneRed's (U1721)
posted 42 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 42 minutes ago
Should be noted that refs are mic'd up already. I just isn't broadcast.

The older ones of us will surely remember Paul Durkin coming out and explaining not giving a blatant penalty to Newcastle against Man United. A lot of people had sympathy for him, but how long will that last if refs are making excuses week after week. Exposing their incompetence won't help and I think that is why they don't allow the conversations to be aired.
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Exactly. They are still getting to grips with new processes they have to follow and whilst they are doing this, they're not going to air it.

Look at the Wales and England rugby game. They came out and stated that mistakes were made. The discussion going on with the referee didn't help anything.
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"getting to grips...." one and a half seasons so far and the incompetence and lack of accountability gets worse.

Each ref will have done probably 60 games by now, absolute minimum, with VAR.

comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 34 minutes ago
comment by There'sOnlyOneRed's (U1721)
posted 42 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 42 minutes ago
Should be noted that refs are mic'd up already. I just isn't broadcast.

The older ones of us will surely remember Paul Durkin coming out and explaining not giving a blatant penalty to Newcastle against Man United. A lot of people had sympathy for him, but how long will that last if refs are making excuses week after week. Exposing their incompetence won't help and I think that is why they don't allow the conversations to be aired.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exactly. They are still getting to grips with new processes they have to follow and whilst they are doing this, they're not going to air it.

Look at the Wales and England rugby game. They came out and stated that mistakes were made. The discussion going on with the referee didn't help anything.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"getting to grips...." one and a half seasons so far and the incompetence and lack of accountability gets worse.

Each ref will have done probably 60 games by now, absolute minimum, with VAR.
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Yes and during that time the guidance has changed several times, decisions not without controversy and changes to actual laws. Until they settle on something, they cannot be seen to be flip-flopping between explanations.

Only this season the handball guidance has been changed, causing a load of handballs in the earlier games to barely getting a penalty for handballs in more recent games.

Then you have the City offside, which wasn't given. The guidance was then updated on that, after the game.

If they air explanations, this will have to be stuck to, which they can't do, considering they have no settled guidance.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 3 hours, 29 minutes ago
Should be noted that refs are mic'd up already. I just isn't broadcast.

The older ones of us will surely remember Paul Durkin coming out and explaining not giving a blatant penalty to Newcastle against Man United. A lot of people had sympathy for him, but how long will that last if refs are making excuses week after week. Exposing their incompetence won't help and I think that is why they don't allow the conversations to be aired.
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Yeah fair enough DJ. Though whether they're wearing a mic now is kinda irrelevant, we're obviously talking about whether it's broadcasted.

Thing is, refs in rugby are mic'd up to help the fans understand what's being given (often a foul in a maul for example won't be clear to the fans) while encouraging respect for the refs. Basically, so the players don't swear. It's nothing to do with the recent calls for it in football where there's an apparent need to micromanage every decision they make. I can't see any possible benefit aside from cutting down dissent if you carded all the swearers.