DAZN made history by airing the conversations between referees and the VAR booth from various Serie A incidents this season, commentated and explained by refereeing designator Gianluca Rocchi, including the controversial Juventus goal against Lazio.
This is the first time in Italy that the actual Video Assistant Referee audio has been transmitted on television, as part of a new weekly agreement struck with broadcaster DAZN.
Because the games must be evaluated by the sporting justice system first, they can only be aired for the previous round.
“Speed is important, but the fundamental thing is reaching the correct decision,” Rocchi explained in the DAZN studio.
“The APP is the Attacking Possession Phase, so in the build-up to a goal or penalty, the VAR has to check what happened from the moment the ball was won back. Again, the VAR cannot check several minutes building up, there has to be a balance in how the time is used.”
The conversations between referees and VAR also confirm that the referee has the ultimate say on anything that is subjective, as the only objective calls are direct offside and whether the ball is inside the box or not.
While some would argue that the VAR now has more power than the official on the pitch, the wording of the conversations points referees towards a re-evaluation with the On-Field Review rather than a foregone conclusion.
“It is not just in football, but all sports require the official on the field make the final decision. The VAR protocol is fairly strict, so it can only be used when there is an incident that is clear.
“The meeting we had with the coaches recently was very fruitful and they suggested something we agreed with too, which was to make sure the referee makes the decisions.”
Indeed, there was an incident in Lecce’s game against Monza when the referee and VAR did not agree.
Federico Baschirotto was shown a straight red card, the VAR suggested an on-field review, after which the referee Daniele Doveri stuck by his original decision.
“Baschirotto sprints to reach the ball, there is not a great deal of intensity, so I think you should see it again from the start to get the whole dynamic of the situation,” said the VAR to the referee.
“He plays the ball and it is the same movement with the same leg that he plays the ball, then the striker goes into the space where he already is. In my view, it’s a yellow card, but you evaluate.”
The referee viewed the footage, but stuck by his decision anyway, something that Rocchi admits was “an incorrect decision, because for us this is a yellow card. Baschirotto plays the ball and continues, but there is no room to avoid the impact. It is up to the referee to make the decision ultimately.”
There was a great deal of controversy around the Juventus goal against Lazio last week, with suggestions the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.
The conversation from the VAR to the referee is that the footage is inconclusive, from the various angles that they had.
“It is not clear. These are the angles we have, there is no evidence, the perspective isn’t helping. The goal stands.”
This confirms that the VAR did not have evidence to rule a clear and obvious error, so if the linesman had flagged that the ball was out of play, that decision would’ve stood too.
Massimiliano Irrati in the VAR booth also tried to check the cameras used for the semi-automatic offside check, but these too provided no confirmation that the ball was definitely in or definitely out.
The decision made on the pitch therefore was allowed to stand and the linesman kept his flag down.
“Football is not an exact science, so as things stand we do not have cameras that are placed on the touchline the same way that we do on the by-line,” explained Rocchi in the studio.
It was still not over, because the VAR technology used for offside was later adapted to prove the ball had not gone out of play.
“This was just extra proof of something we were practically certain of and now we have the proof.”