New (and old) rules for 2020/21

Log in to stop seeing adverts

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jeff

Administrator
Staff member


At the Premier League’s Annual General Meeting today, Shareholders agreed to rules relating to Video Assistant Referees (VAR) and substitute players for the 2020/21 season.

Shareholders unanimously approved the implementation of VAR, in line with the full FIFA VAR protocol.

Clubs also agreed to revert back to using up to three substitute players per match, with a maximum of seven substitutes on the bench.

How VAR will change in 2020/21
In July 2020, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) transferred the responsibility of VAR to FIFA. IFAB will continue to work closely with FIFA, especially in terms of the VAR protocol, related Laws and qualification requirements.

There are five key areas that highlight the differences in implementation of VAR in 2020/21:

  • Referee Review Area (RRA): Increased use of the RRA, which will be used for subjective decisions in the three key areas - goals, red cards and penalty kicks
  • Goalkeeper encroachment on penalty kicks: The protocol does not allow for tolerance levels, so if the goalkeeper saves a penalty and his foot is over the line then VAR will advise it is retaken. If the goalkeeper is off his line and the ball hits the post or goes over, it won’t be retaken unless the 'keeper has a material impact on the kick being missed
  • Player encroachment on penalty kicks: It is now judged on any part of a player’s body that is on the ground when the kick is taken. So if any part of the foot is on the penalty area or arc line it is encroachment. The player must still have a material impact on the outcome of the kick
  • Offsides: The protocol does not allow for tolerance levels
  • Keeping the flag down for tight marginal offside offences: When an immediate goalscoring opportunity is likely to occur, the assistant referee will keep their flag down until the passage of play is completed. Once the goalscoring opportunity is complete, either a goal is scored or the chance is gone, the assistant will then raise the flag to indicate the initial offence. If a goal is scored the VAR will then review the offside judgement
 
I really think that they should give VAR 10 seconds to review a decision. If they can’t see it in 10 seconds it’s not a clear and obvious error.

Taking 3 minutes and ten different camera angles slowed down, and drawing lines from armpits etc is ridiculous.
 
I may be wrong but that reads like they're now going to be pedantically spending 5 minutes drawing lines to see whether a goalkeeper's foot it 1mm over the line if he saves a penalty when it's taken - even if it's clear that 1mm had zero impact on whether they saved it or not.

Penalties are going to be taken over and over until they're scored now aren't they? That sounds like it's massively stacking penalties in the attacker's favour and away from the goalkeeper.

Also, what does " unless the 'keeper has a material impact on the kick being missed" mean? Like he does a dance on his line which puts the attacker off making him sky it over the bar?
 
I really think that they should give VAR 10 seconds to review a decision. If they can’t see it in 10 seconds it’s not a clear and obvious error.

Taking 3 minutes and ten different camera angles slowed down, and drawing lines from armpits etc is ridiculous.

That is an aburd suggestion. There are many, many decisions that clearly require more than 10 seconds. If you want VAR, and all 20 PL clubs clearly do, then at least allow it to work. An offside is an offside and they have to be able to determine whether it is or it isn't. Similarly, you can have red card decisions that look like a good tackle from one angle and a horror leg breaker from another. You just have to allow the VAR to see what is available and that takes time.

You have a point about the length of time some decisions took. I take the clear change with referees reviewing more decisions themselves as a solution to this. It was very rarely an issue in leagues where referees did this.
 
That is an aburd suggestion. There are many, many decisions that clearly require more than 10 seconds. If you want VAR, and all 20 PL clubs clearly do, then at least allow it to work. An offside is an offside and they have to be able to determine whether it is or it isn't. Similarly, you can have red card decisions that look like a good tackle from one angle and a horror leg breaker from another. You just have to allow the VAR to see what is available and that takes time.

You have a point about the length of time some decisions took. I take the clear change with referees reviewing more decisions themselves as a solution to this. It was very rarely an issue in leagues where referees did this.
An offside is an offside?

Well yes but the technology isn’t accurate enough to determine an armpit is off. So how about lines across the pitch, with no vertical lines up to armpits. If you have to draw vertical lines up to someone’s left bollock, it’s not a clear and obvious mistake.

We’re in real danger of ruining football.
 
An offside is an offside?

Well yes but the technology isn’t accurate enough to determine an armpit is off. So how about lines across the pitch, with no vertical lines up to armpits. If you have to draw vertical lines up to someone’s left bollock, it’s not a clear and obvious mistake.

We’re in real danger of ruining football.

You're confusing two different elements of VAR. A clear an obvious error doesn't apply to offside.

I don't share the anger many people do about the lines re offside. I've also not heard any possible alternative that makes it any better than what they do now. Offside is by definition a specific line on the pitch, whether that is bollock, armpit or daylight or anything else. I expect VAR can and will get better at doing it in time, probably by automating it like some decisions in tennis and cricket and the goal line technology in football.

Most people don't like VAR because it is different. I think it has been an excellent bit of progress which has been rather mismanaged so far. But they'll get there.

The handball is the one area I have an issue with. That needs a clear rule change and then the VAR can support it properly.
 
I don't think it's to do with it being different. Hawkeye was different and was overwhelming accepted straight away.

Most people thought the way VAR was implemented in the 2018 WC was good but the way it's been implemented in the PL hasn't been.

And yeah, like boc says, it's the time taken that's the biggest issue than any. It kills the flow of the game and the spectacle.

Offside may be an objective "either offside or not" of course, but it's the subjective choice by the rule makers and VAR as to how VAR is implemented and how much say on VAR has which is the problem people have.

If the officials have clearly made the wrong decision which can be seen on the freeze frame on a replay pretty quickly I doubt anyone would have a problem with overturning that by VAR.

It's when they take 5 minutes to draw lines to a tight call that is indistinguishable to the naked eye people have a problem with, because yes, even though the rules are technically correct, it's killing the flow and momentum and enjoyment of the game just to prove technicalities that neither the defender or attacker really got any advantage from.

It's the same way referees often won't send players off for 2nd yellows that were technically yellows or the referee doesn't blow up every time a goalkeeper handles the ball for 6 seconds or makes a throw in or free kick get taken at the exact point it went out when it's taken 3 yards from where it should have been - technically they should do that, but it's just not enjoyable for anyone to slow the game down like that for technically correct laws.

10 seconds is probably too short, but I'd certaintly be for a 60 or 90 second limit on VAR desicions.
 
I'm a bit suspicious of comparing VAR with the technology used in cricket since they're very different games, and the flow of cricket is such that it can't be disrupted by taking a bit of extra time between balls to work out what's happened. That said, I don't think that the problem with VAR is the amount of time taken to make a call so much as the lack of an equivalent to the umpire's call in cricket. Adopting that would take out all of the decisions made one way or another by millimetres, it likely would speed things up a little too as there would be less to look at with some cases
 
The handball is the one area I have an issue with. That needs a clear rule change and then the VAR can support it properly.
Handball is handball...
 
Did I say that?

The years away from this forum have clearly left me with such a hole in my life I've drunk myself into such a spiral than I can no longer do some basic reading of usernames.
 
The years away from this forum have clearly left me with such a hole in my life I've drunk myself into such a spiral than I can no longer do some basic reading of usernames.
For the record, I do think the time taken is an important point. But for me the most important thing is the loss of the 'in the opinion of the referee' aspect. Another sign that the game is no longer a game but a money-grabbing business.
 
I note that the 'big six' are trying to get the PL clubs to vote again on the decision to revert back to 3 subs from 7 instead of 5 from 9.

They are pushing for it to be revisited in the PL meeting this week so we could have another vote. Maybe the 'big six' have leaned on a few clubs.

Anyone know how LCFC voted on this?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Log in to stop seeing adverts

Championship

P Pld Pts
1Leeds Utd3882
2Leicester3782
3Ipswich3881
4Southampton3673
5West Brom3866
6Norwich City3861
7Hull City3758
8Coventry City3757
9Preston 3756
10Middlesbro3854
11Cardiff City3853
12Sunderland3848
13Watford3848
14Bristol City3847
15Swansea City3846
16Millwall3843
17Blackburn 3842
18Plymouth 3841
19Stoke City3841
20QPR3840
21Birmingham3839
22Huddersfield3839
23Sheffield W3838
24Rotherham Utd3820

Latest posts

Top