On Sky this morning the two ex-players disagreed with the ex-ref. There's a fundamental problem if the people being officiated interpret the rules differently from those officiating.
Micing up the refs would be a huge step in the right direction. Being able to question decisions directly after a game before they've had a chance to review would also help.
VAR is just another place for bad decisions to be made and has added nothing to the game. Goal-line technology worked well. VAR is a farce.
Half the problem is the players don’t know the rules, not to the letter anyway, but any ex player on a var panel would obviously do a course. Nobody is saying they should be ref, but the brighter ones could handle var easily.
A ref will never likely understand though, even most fans couldn’t, for a lot of decisions.
Like fouls as one example. They refs just don’t get what minor contact at high speed can do, even if players don’t go down it’s still a foul. These don’t get given as fouls though, so then players have to make the most of it, and then from that comes diving and people trailing a foot to get fouled etc. It’s like a snowball effect.
It’s all caused by an understanding of the rules, and thinking this is an understand of the game, and it isn’t.
FIFA/ the FA don't help the refs though either. Its 2023, why are players and managers still getting in the refs face? In any other sport if you do that you end up in the stands. Protect the refs and var better, and they’ll make better decisions.
VAR still gets a lot more right than wrong, but it should be 99% correct, and never used as a bailout.
VAR shouldn’t be used for offsides how it is either, if they think they need to get the lines out, and can’t decide without them, then stick with the original decision.
