VAR will evolve and become even better, admits Neil Swarbrick
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VAR Chief Neil Swarbrick has revealed that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will become even better and keeping evolving as the game moves on. The use of VAR has been criticized by fans and top tier sides with a few even claiming that they’re not happy with the way decisions have been made.
With the VAR introduced into the Premier League for the first time this season, the results have been so and so but there has always been a weekend of controversy. This weekend saw Sheffield United have a goal ruled out for a marginal offside and Manchester City have two penalty appeals for handballs denied.
But despite that and the myriad of issues over the last few months, VAR chief Neil Swarbrick went on to state that the video assistant referee is improving. A former referee himself, Swarbrick also added that he has been pleased with the way they have started out and hopes that things keep moving forward at this rate.
"I'm really pleased, honestly, with how we have started out. I'd give us around about seven-ish. We have more decisions correct with VAR than without it. If the mark now is seven - early days - in two years' time I'm hoping for maybe an eight and a half or nine," said Swarbrick, reports ESPN.
"We are open to evolving with this - it's not a case of we're not budging. We will listen to feedback and where we can improve things, we will do. I'm comfortable with where we are but there's no doubt there's room for improvement. It's a work in progress.”
What has further added to the controversy has been the media backlash that the referees and the VAR referees have gotten over the last few months. Things have become bad for the officials but Swarbrick went on to admit that referees are used to the abuse and that it doesn’t affect their job.
“It is a tough job for officials but they are equipped to cope with the criticism. It's hard to put into words the pressure you feel as a VAR when you're behind the screen. When we brought the media in for demonstrations, and we gave them clips to look at with no pressure on them to view these incidents, they said this is really hard.
"When I was refereeing there were incidents where the referee would get criticised. It's nothing new to us, it's part of our fabric, our make-up, it's what we're kind of used to and we are very resilient in that way. We take criticism on board. The criticism comes from people's opinions. I could look at an incident where I haven't given a penalty and be quite comfortable with that. Yet everyone could be criticising me. It's all about perspective," concluded Swarbrick.
