Tuesday, November 5, 2024

VAR: Mark Clattenburg says referees must stop relying on VAR

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In May, Wolves triggered a vote to scrap VAR amid growing anger and frustration at the standard of refereeing and impact of technology on football last season.

They lost the vote, but the Premier League promised to improve VAR.

This season the top flight has put more importance on the ‘referees’ call’ and wants VAR to only intervene on subjective decisions, if that call is a clear and obvious error.

It was also announced this week that the Premier League Match Centre would post “near-live” explanations of VAR decisions on X for fans.

“There had to be some steps going forward because what we saw last year was a lot of upset, a lot of complaints,” said Clattenburg.

“Last season I could see, in depth, the refereeing standard. It was very difficult for Howard when he loses experienced referees in a short period of time.

“What I did see, to counteract that, was some very good young referees. You could see the talent. But like young footballers making mistakes, young referees are going to make mistakes.

“What I felt was needed was, when you have a young referee, you needed an experienced VAR to support them.

“At the moment we have only two or three referees on the biggest matches.

“Anthony Taylor, one of the best referees in the Premier League, is going to referee the biggest match of the weekend (Chelsea v Manchester City) and that happens most weeks with him and Michael Oliver. That’s a big ask for a referee to be refereeing these matches week in, week out.”

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