Irrati on resisting VAR, plus the ultimate compliment and insult for a referee

Italian referee Massimiliano Irrati will be at the World Cup in Qatar and admits VAR was initially met with ‘resistance’ by officials, but reveals the worst insult and greatest compliments he received from players.

Daniele Orsato will officiate the opening fixture between Qatar and Ecuador tomorrow, with fellow countryman Irrati as the VAR.

While Serie A was one of the first major leagues to introduce the technology, Irrati admits it was not universally embraced.

“There was resistance, yes,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

“I remember the first time Roberto Rosetti came to talk to us all about VAR in about 2015. We looked at him and thought, this guy is crazy… We couldn’t understand, as far as we were concerned, replays were for stirring up controversy on television shows.

“We considered it almost a provocation to rile us up. However, Rosetti had realised this was where the future would be.”

Irrati wants to make clear the resistance was not because referees felt they were beyond reproach, far from it, and the call from VAR still strikes fear into them.

“Sometimes the error is so clear that you are immediately just devastated, and you realise from the reaction of the players. It’s even worse if the result depends on your error.

“A good referee is someone who in the space of days or even hours can cancel it out and go back to refereeing the way he always did.”

Officials are constantly accused of bias and that is they consider the most vicious of insults.

“The accusation of intentional bias, that’s the worst thing you can say to a referee. Or even as some used to call it psychological sublimation to certain teams. Even just insinuating that is the most heinous insult.

“At times, rarely I have to admit, players will say it to you on the pitch. ‘You wouldn’t have blown the whistle if one of their players did that.’

“It absolutely knocks the wind out of you. And you ask yourself, what on earth could I have done that made him even think that?”

There are some moments though when players can reassure referees and Irrati remembers one incident in particular.

“I officiated Roma–Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-final. Totti came off the bench with Lazio 2-0 up and 15 minutes to go. He walks over to me, gives me a pat on the shoulder and says ‘Bravo.’

“Roma were 2-0 down, I thought he was being sarcastic. He realised it from the look on my face and clarified: ‘No, I mean it, you’re doing really well.’

“If you officiate well, a player recognises that, even if they lose the game. To be appreciated like that, by a champion who could’ve easily not bothered, that made an impact on me.”