VAR a Cause for Concern in Serie A's First Week

The point of VAR is to clean up errors, but is this really the case?

The first day of the Serie A season went as most expected. Juventus and Napoli, the two favorites to win the Scudetto, started their campaigns with victories. Juventus defeated Parma in a 1-0 win, while Napoli held off Fiorentina 4-3.

Nonetheless, the video assistant referee (VAR) system took center stage on day one of the new season.

In the first half of Juve’s victory against Parma, Cristiano Ronaldo doubled his team’s lead to 2-0. The VAR, however, declared Ronaldo slightly offside and overturned the goal.
Later on in the day, the VAR made inconsistent penalty decisions in the Napoli-Fiorentina fixture. The VAR intervened with the first decision but remained silent for a subsequent decision.

What is VAR?

The video assistant referee is an official who reviews the on-field referee’s decisions on video. He or she communicates to the on-field referee and acts as backup in case the referee misses a play. The objective of the VAR system is to correct clear and obvious errors.

The VAR can review four different decisions: goals, penalties, direct red cards, and wrong player for yellow/red cards.

Most European soccer games in Serie A, the Premier League, and even the Champions League now have VAR.

How does VAR work in Serie A?

Serie A introduced its VAR system in the 2018-2019 season. In this first season, a dedicated video assistant referee worked in the stadium at every game. He or she oversaw all decisions on the field and communicated with the on-field referee.

The league changed the VAR system for the 2019-2020 season. Now, there is no video assistant referee present at each game. Instead, all video assistants oversee decisions from a single video assistant center at the Federal Technical Center. Sky Sports Italia outlines the new VAR system in Serie A. The purpose of a centralized video assistant center is to ensure consistency across all games and decisions.

Here’s an example of how the Serie A VAR system ideally works. Let’s say an on-field referee misses a possible handball in the box. A video assistant referee at the Federal Technical Center watches the live game on video, reviews the play, notices the handball, and then instructs the on-field referee in his headset to look at the play again to check for handball.

VAR intervened when a decision wasn’t clear and obvious

The new Serie A VAR system reared its ugly head only 34 minutes into the season. Ronaldo fired a shot past Udinese goalkeeper Luigi Sepe and scored his first goal. The on-field referee noticed nothing wrong with the play. The centralized video assistant referee, however, checked the play and judged that Ronaldo may have been offside.

Watch the video of Ronaldo’s disallowed goal. If Ronaldo was offside, he was offside by less than an inch.

Decisions like this one contradict the spirit of the VAR system. The intention of VAR is to correct clear and obvious errors, not to oversee the tiniest of details. Ronaldo, even if he was offside by an inch, received no advantage.

Former Serie A referee Paolo Casarin explained this sentiment on an Italian radio station on Monday. According to Football Italia, Casarin mentioned how video assistants wrongfully try to make photo-finish decisions instead of correcting obvious plays.

VAR did not make consistent decisions

The VAR system then came into play in Napoli’s visit to Fiorentina. In the fifth minute, the ball struck Napoli midfielder Piotr Zieliński near his shoulder in his defensive box.

The on-field referee missed this, but the video assistant referee buzzed down and instructed the on-field referee to look at the video. The on-field referee watched the replay and then awarded Fiorentina a penalty kick.

The VAR system failed towards the end of the first half. The on-field referee awarded Napoli a penalty kick for a foul on Dries Mertens in the attacking box. There wasn’t any significant contact, however, and replays showed Mertens dive.

The video assistant referee did not communicate this to the on-field referee, so there was no closer review.

More from Playing for 90

This was not consistent with the decision earlier in the game. The video assistant referee intervened with the first decision but not with the second one. The whole point of a centralized VAR system is to ensure consistency across all games. This obviously was not the case.

How to make VAR work in Serie A

There are two things that must happen for the VAR system to work in Serie A. First, the video assistant referee must only intervene to correct clear and obvious decisions. The assistant isn’t there to determine if a player is offside by a centimeter or if a ball grazed somebody’s shoulder.

Second, all video assistant reviews must be consistent. It shouldn’t matter if a play happens in the 15th minute in Milan or the 95th minute in Genoa; the rules and decisions should be the same.

As long as the video assistants meet these two requirements, the VAR system will have a positive effect on games. If not, we’ll continue to focus on controversial decisions rather than the actual games.

Home/Serie A

VAR a cause for concern in Serie A

By jc | Aug 27, 2019