- Dec 22, 2005
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Next time people are whinging about VAR, just remember: could be worse.
https://streamable.com/phm4x
https://streamable.com/phm4x
I clocked it at 41 seconds between the handball occurring and the referee showing signs that the VAR told him something was up. Apparently a camera in the tunnel showed that the defending team was refusing to come back on the field at first, which is a big part of why it took 6 minutes to go from foul to penalty kick. However 41 seconds between foul and VAR informing the referee is pretty damn good actually.Seems VAR took too long to inform the ref.
In terms of the LOTG, I see no reason why this not above board. Play had not restarted and the refs were standing on the touch line when the VAR informed them that a clear error has occurred.
A common "what if" for refs is the goalkeeper punching an opponent in the GK's penalty area right before the ref blows for full time. The AR informs the referee what happened and when it occurred. In that situation, the ref is allowed to give the PK and red card since he received new information from his crew that he was not aware of when the full time whistle blew.
This is pretty much the VAR example of that case. I'm sure it will be spun as "VAR craziness" and "Another VAR mistake", but it was a PK and it was fully legal in the laws of the game.
It sounds like the error was in allowing the players off the pitch while still reviewing an incident. Hopefully they'll learn from this.