The Italian Referees Association has decided to launch a course to train new or returning referees to become VAR specialists following a number of complaints regarding decisions this season.
Many decisions affecting top Serie A clubs have come under fire this campaign due to poor or incorrect usage of the Video Assistant Referee system, such as the missed penalty on Andrea Belotti in Torino’s draw with Inter or Destiny Udogie’s hand ball goal scored against Milan.
As highlighted by Calciomercato.com, referee designator Gianluca Rocchi has shared his thoughts on the situation and announced that a new specialist course will be launched.
“If the referee brings with him the attitude he has on the pitch, he makes a mistake. Precisely for this reason a team of only Varistas will be born.
“They could be found among those who have stopped or also among younger people who show to have the right characteristics.
“We want to train referees on the European model. Fouls whistled, cautions and penalties awarded in line with the Champions League.”
Italian football is therefore ready to embark on a new path to try and reduce the number of officiating mistakes as much as possible. The new courses at Coverciano will start from July and it’s currently unclear how long they’ll take to complete.
Officiating is always a divisive topic in football and so the better trained the VAR team are, the more accurate decisions will be made.
#Arbitri, troppe polemiche? L'#Aia cambia: pronta una squadra specializzata al #Var https://t.co/KXI3qKsOY8 pic.twitter.com/lGD2Xb6NOj
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) March 27, 2022
Varistas 😭😭😭
It’s funny that with all your technology! Italian referring is still very much behind and poor! These joker’s cannot cease to amuse me
Italian football needs to stop blowing the whistle every 5 seconds. Too much play acting in the league, and then when they play in CL the players are always expecting fouls and the refs wave play on.
Milan got robbed this term many times. Just unacceptable. Also other teams got robbed against Juve and Inter.
IRA cost Milan almost 8 points in title race.
Same CL refs who robbed Milan 3 times vs athletico and twice vs porto? There’s corruption in all parts of football and even var hasn’t ensured fairness on the pitch.
@G Right, just like how Totti was fouled in the penalty area v South Korea and sent off for ‘diving’ by Moreno (who was later arrested for criminal activity). Its always been the case that officials from other continents don’t make the grade (see South Africa 2010 WC) including Graham Poll who booked someone 3 times in a game. Collina instead always took the finals because he was the best (Italian). Other countries have nothing to preach about Italians or Italian refs.
My question: Is it so difficult to observe slow-motion replays? IMHO these referees don’t need more training to make decisions.
More help for juventus so they can cheat better.
@G, completely agree, it’s harming their own teams in european games.
@Fatecisognare nobody would disagree about Collina being great, and of course refs all over get things wrong, but having watched a lot of football from different european leagues this season I do think Italy is lagging behind on penalties, var, and a different mentality about what constitutes a foul.