News: MLS Video Referee Assistant....

Riccardo55 · Jun 7, 2017

So after the All Star game, MLS will use some version of Video replay in league games. Generically looking at hand balls, borderline goals, and maybe red cards or dives.....I have looked around for *specifics* which I believe have been a work-in-progress. For example, will there be a coach's challenge like the NFL? And will the review be the field ref, the 4th ref, or a central ("back in New York...."). And what about offsides? Accuracy is great, but how can one slow down the flow.

Has anyone heard the specifics???

R

JasonMa · Jun 7, 2017

It can only be used on PKs, goal line calls, and red cards IIRC. No coach's challenge as everyone of those will be reviewed by default. The process will be that the VAR reviews it while play continues as normal and if they see something they will notify the CR who will then stop play, come over and look at the review, and rule accordingly.

They did a test run of the VAR process at a Rapids game a few weeks ago. The CR wasn't contacted but the VAR went trough all the steps up to that point. There's a table and a protective shield around the monitor at midfield on the East sideline. The table/shield has been their ever since but they removed the monitor after the game where they ran the test.

COMtnGuy · Jun 7, 2017

JasonMa said: ↑

It can only be used on PKs, goal line calls, and red cards IIRC. No coach's challenge as everyone of those will be reviewed by default. The process will be that the VAR reviews it while play continues as normal and if they see something they will notify the CR who will then stop play, come over and look at the review, and rule accordingly.

They did a test run of the VAR process at a Rapids game a few weeks ago. The CR wasn't contacted but the VAR went trough all the steps up to that point. There's a table and a protective shield around the monitor at midfield on the East sideline. The table/shield has been their ever since but they removed the monitor after the game where they ran the test.
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Offsides too, I remember ESPNFC showing video of somewhere and how it messed up the flow of game by being late.

Paranoid Coyote · Jun 7, 2017

Everything you ever wanted to know about VAR but were afraid to ask:

http://www.theifab.com/projects/video-assistant-referees-vars-experiment

Reviewable decisions

Match officials make hundreds of decisions in every match, including decisions that an offence has not occurred. It would be impossible, without completely changing football, to review every decision. Thus, the experiment limits the use of VARs to four categories of match-changing decisions/incidents:

Goals/ no goal decisions

Penalty/ no penalty decisions

Direct red cards (not 2nd yellow cards)

Mistaken identity

In all these situations, the VAR is only used after the referee has made a decision (including allowing play to continue), or if a serious incident is ‘missed’ i.e. not seen by the match officials.
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fortcollins · Jun 7, 2017

I'd go with a fourth choice in the poll: it may not be a disaster, but it will disrupt the flow of the match.

It won't stop the disputes or the whining. It will just put one more layer between the whiners and the events. Rather than whining that the ref made a bad call, the whining will be that there weren't enough camera angles, the image quality wasn't good enough, there needs to be a coaching challenge "just to make it fair," some stadiums have more coverage and more cameras than others, some teams have an unfair advantage because they appear on national broadcasts more frequently and there are more cameras for those broadcasts, just one or two more types of calls need to be reviewable to make it fair, and on and on.

Players are human, and so are refs. Players screw up. So do refs. No team has ever played a flawless game. Let's leave soccer as a human game, screw-ups and all.

Rod1916 · Jun 7, 2017

fortcollins said: ↑

I'd go with a fourth choice in the poll: it may not be a disaster, but it will disrupt the flow of the match.

It won't stop the disputes or the whining. It will just put one more layer between the whiners and the events. Rather than whining that the ref made a bad call, the whining will be that there weren't enough camera angles, the image quality wasn't good enough, there needs to be a coaching challenge "just to make it fair," some stadiums have more coverage and more cameras than others, some teams have an unfair advantage because they appear on national broadcasts more frequently and there are more cameras for those broadcasts, just one or two more types of calls need to be reviewable to make it fair, and on and on.

Players are human, and so are refs. Players screw up. So do refs. No team has ever played a flawless game. Let's leave soccer as a human game, screw-ups and all.
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There is a video from the U-20 Italy game showing a Red Card given and affirmed by video replay. Turns out, it was a flop and the video replay angle is poor. So, there will be tons of whining no matter what....