After their hapless mistake last weekend at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in which the video assistant referee failed to notice an incorrect offside call that had ruled out a legitimate Liverpool goal, there has been a lot of apologising from the body representing match officials.
For the 10th time in the last two seasons, the referees have been obliged to say sorry about their video assistants’ competence, admitting there was “significant human error” in their decision making at Spurs.
Now, as part of their extended mea culpa, the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd has agreed to Liverpool’s request to release the recording of the exchanges between the referee Simon Hooper and Darren England, the Var. Initially, only Liverpool will have access to the material. But eventually, it has been promised, the recording will be made public. And about time.
For too long the whole process of video assistant refereeing has been shrouded in unnecessary secrecy. In the stadium, supporters are denied any information about the processes, simply having to wait until a decision is decreed from above. This happens, apparently, because fans cannot be trusted to behave themselves should the deliberations be made public. So instead, we are kept deliberately in the dark about what is going on. As if that is likely to improve the collective mood.
Recently there has been a slight accommodation to openness in that the visuals of Var decisions are now replayed on some stadium big screens. That is where they have big screens. At Old Trafford, the country’s largest club stadium there are no screens. Largely because they cost money to install. Though that’s another story.
But now, finally, we are to hear as well as see what is going on. To be fair, in a bid to make their processes marginally more open, from next season the PGMOL had already agreed to let television viewers hear the verbal deliberations as they happen, in the manner that pundits and commentators have for some time been given access. The decision to allow the recording from last Saturday to be made public will only accelerate things. Now the genie is out of the bottle, there really is no reason to delay in making football as accessible to its followers as cricket, rugby union, American football and rugby league.
For too long English football’s officialdom has run scared of proper transparency. Ever since an experiment wiring up refs was abandoned back in the eighties when Tony Adams was caught on David Elleray’s microphone giving a robust opinion of his refereeing performance, there has been a fear of letting us hear what is going on. And with that trepidation, huge opportunity has been lost. If nothing else, actually being allowed to hear the relentless interjections of players might encourage the likes of Bruno Fernandes to be a little less whiny.
Indeed, the manner in which video assistance has been seamlessly integrated elsewhere should embarrass our game’s bureaucrats. If nothing else, there is huge potential in it. Whenever an American football referee stands in the middle of the pitch to deliver judgment has become a moment of high drama, an unmissable part of the gridiron experience.
So a lot rides on the release of this recording. Though if it is to prove a turning point, the PGMOL needs to be ready for the response. Not least about the manner in which the officials speak to each other. Those who, as part of their broadcasting remit, have been able to eavesdrop on conversations between refs and Vars, have not been wholly impressed. Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, the former referee turned pundit Keith Hackett, who is also a Telegraph Sport columnist, reckoned the tone of the communications tends to be way too informal, chatty even. Listening in to decisions that may have significant bearing on relegation or league position is too often like happening on a bunch of mates bantering, he says. Which is odd, as the PGMOL hired the distinguished rugby league referee Phil Bentham last summer largely to coach football officials on how to communicate in a more appropriate fashion. Maybe the sharpest way for referees to up their game is to do what they do in cricket and rugby. In those sports officials, knowing their judgments will be public, maintain a much more formal, almost legal-sounding, verbal approach.
The fact is, far from being embarrassed about the release of the tape, the PGMOL should seize the opportunity to improve. This could well be the last chance to restore some credibility to the use of technology, by opening things up to full and honest scrutiny. For too long football has hidden behind obfuscation. Transparency can only improve things. You never know, it might actually make things less fraught if everyone – players, managers and fans – were given immediate insight into what is going on.
