VAR is at risk of becoming too "microscopic" in over-analyzing subjective decisions, UEFA's referees' chief has said. Technology was introduced to football to erase clear and obvious errors, but supporters have become frustrated that it is causing matches to be re-refereed.
UEFA director of refereeing Roberto Rosetti refrained from criticizing any competitions, but shares the general concern that VAR was at risk of going too far. "I believe we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced. We forgot a little bit. Everywhere. You remember, eight years ago, I came to London [to brief journalists]. We discussed 'what VAR stands for.' We spoke about clear mistakes. We spoke about clear and obvious mistakes. Technology works so well in factual decisions. For interpretations, subjective evaluation is more difficult. I believe that we need, at the end of the season in our meetings, to speak about this. We cannot go in this direction of microscopic VAR intervention. We love football like it is. When you are watching [a] situation with a super slow motion, you can find a lot of things." Rosetti said there was "zero contradiction" in saying VAR was at risk of becoming too microscopic while at the same time not dismissing the idea of extending its remit to cover corner kick checks. "What is crucial is one concept, we cannot delay the start of play," he said. "If something is in place to delay the restart of play, I think [it] is not good for football."
Rosetti also said more work was needed to come up with a common interpretation of the handball law across Europe and said he would speak again to referees' chiefs around the continent about it, including Howard Webb at Professional Game Match Officials. "We must speak only one technical language [on handball]," he said. "We were speaking a lot for sure before the season, we need to speak again [and have] only one uniform and consistent interpretation. We are working on this."
Source: ESPN
