Former referee Paolo Casarin is “a supporter of VAR, but offside checks have become a ‘competition’ and don’t reflect the spirit of the rules.”
VAR was already introduced in Serie A last season, but is now spreading to all the top five Leagues and Champions League, leading to increasing frustration from fans and players.
Former referee Paolo Casarin is “a supporter of VAR, but offside checks have become a ‘competition’ and don’t reflect the spirit of the rules.”
VAR was already introduced in Serie A last season, but is now spreading to all the top five Leagues and Champions League, leading to increasing frustration from fans and players.
The changes in handball rules have also combined with VAR technology to lead to some very soft penalties, but Napoli were at the centre of controversy for their spot-kick against Fiorentina, as Dries Mertens seemed to clearly dive.
“The Mertens error is a big one done by expert referees. It’s surprising that such a clear incident wasn’t revisited using VAR,” retired referee Casarin told Radio Radio.
“I am a supporter of VAR and saw the journey that took it to be adopted. It seems surprising to me that VAR is not seen by referees as help and support. The referee and VAR official should support each other, it’s not a matter of who is in charge. The problem there is that we shouldn’t have a central referee and a subordinate.
“Having said all of that, VAR has certainly reduced the number of clear and obvious errors, so can never be removed from now on.”
Where Casarin does feel there are big problems is when implementing the offside rule, for example some extremely tight decisions this weekend in Serie A and the Premier League.
“It’s a complex situation. It seems as if now they are checking a 100m Olympics final race photo-finish, that for VAR offside has become a ‘competition’ to see who can identify the millimetres. This absolutely does not reflect the spirit of the rules.
“Offside was introduced to prevent a striker having a significant advantage when he starts his run. The technology is also a problem here, because offside is recognising the moment the ball leaves the boot of one player and the position of his teammate in that same moment.
“VAR is very good at checking the position of the receiving player, but not so much when the ball leaves the boot. There will always be some uncertainty when freeze-framing a recording and could lead to 30-40cm difference. If you then go and check 1-2cm…
“As for the new handball rules, football cannot be punitive from the get-go, you need to differentiate between voluntary fouls where you tried to gain an advantage and those that were accidental in an attempt to play the ball.
“In general, I believe this was not the right time to introduce new rules, many of them pointless, such as the yellow card for Coaches. We entered into many changes at a time when people were still adapting to and accepting VAR.”