The Mirror reported that the Premier League VAR video assistant referee system has been significantly improved and the error rate has dropped significantly. Last season, the number of errors made by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) dropped signific...
The Mirror reported that the Premier League VAR video assistant referee system has been significantly improved and the error rate has dropped significantly.
Last season, the number of errors made by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) dropped significantly, with only 18 officially recorded, a 42% decrease from the previous year. This improvement is closely related to more referees receiving VAR training. Richard Bevin, chief executive of the League Managers' Association, said last week that the Premier League's top brass were seeking to establish a permanent team of referees.
Bevin said on the "No Tippy Tappy Football" podcast: "The Premier League coaches would like to see VAR referees working with the referees on the field every week, so that there is no tense relationship. They need to better understand each other's working methods, and Howard Webb and PGMOL are working hard in this direction."
Bevin also mentioned that recruitment, training and development are the main issues facing PGMOL. He believes that while VAR will continue to exist, reducing errors is key. However, no relevant proposals have been formally made to PGMOL head Howard Webber.
There are difficulties in forming a fixed VAR team because although there are fixed teams of referees, assistant referees and fourth officials, it is not easy to incorporate VAR into them. At present, 19 Premier League referees have received VAR training, and another 7 referees from non-top leagues also serve in VAR work. PGMOL claims that this is one of the reasons for the improvement in their statistics.
Liverpool fans may have been unhappy with Van Dijk's disallowed goal against Manchester City on Sunday, but the 18 errors confirmed last season were down from 31 in 2023/24 and 35 in 2022/23. In addition, the average delay for VAR intervention has dropped from 64 seconds in the 2023/24 season to 39 seconds.
The reduction in errors is mainly due to the reduction in omissions of subjective intervention, but training and practice are also important factors. However, maintaining a fixed team for each game is difficult because referees cannot officiate games to which they are related.
For example, Michael Oliver cannot officiate games against Newcastle or their north-east rivals Sunderland. Queensland-born Jared Gillette is reportedly a Liverpool fan and as such he does not referee Liverpool or Everton games. This knock-on effect has resulted in some referees having to be rotated, making it difficult to maintain a fixed team. But PGMOL believes standards are improving, complaints are falling and training more VAR referees will also help.
