I have two proposed changes to the current VAR system that I think would improve it immeasurably overnight:
1)
Do away with drawing lines for offsides. As has been widely observed, offside is not a rule that was introduced to ding players for being half a toe offside. Similarly, as Jonathan Wilson has championed for years, the margin of error in the adjudication of an offside is huge depending on the precise moment the ball can be said to 'leave the foot' of the last attacking player before the offside player - the frame rate at which games are currently filmed is not sufficiently high to be able to determine with any accuracy when the ball 'last touched an attacking player', so the moment that is chosen for the drawing of the lines is totally arbitrary. However, VAR is undeniably a good thing when it corrects clear injustices: see, off the top of my head, the Aubameyang goal at Old Trafford about a month ago. From a replay, you could clearly see that
he was two yards onside, and to have denied Arsenal such a clear goal
in such an important game would have been wrong. You do not need to draw a line to see the decision was wrong, and it is for those kinds of instances that I think VAR should be used. This for me would also bring VAR back to its 'clear and obvious error' roots.
2)
Mic up the refs. I think one of the biggest frustrations with VAR at the moment is the lack of transparency. We see a replay of something we consider to be a clear foul, we expect VAR to overturn the decision, and eventually the ref simply waves play on. It is not explained to viewers why a goal / foul / handball etc that we consider to be stonewall is not given, and that leads to the anger. I don't watch any rugby beyond the World Cup and 6 Nations, but the way TMO works there is excellent I think, especially when you have a great ref like Nigel Owens talking through the issue clearly. While you may disagree with the decision if it is tight, you are at least afforded an explanation, and an insight into why the referee made the decision they did. If this was adopted, I think we would see a reduction in the conspiracy theories (along the lines of 'the refs at Stockley Park don't want to make their mates seem bad by overturning the decision') and scepticism around the current system. It would also provide some much needed clarity on issues like Liverpool's first goal yesterday.
I don't understand why play wasn't pulled back for either a penalty, or a handball in the buildup to a goal, and it would have been helpful to have the man making the decision explain in real time why he made the decision he did.
Thoughts?