Refs chief says football has forgotten why VAR was introduced in scathing claim

Former World Cup referee Roberto Rosetti delivers damning blast on video technology over “microscopic” VAR checks

UEFA’S referee chief says football has “forgotten the reason why VAR was introduced.”

Former World Cup referee Roberto Rosetti says video checks are becoming too “microscopic” and are in real danger of taking the love out of the game.

The Premier League is facing a backlash from fans who are fed-up up with video assistant referees getting involved too often, long delays and the standard of officials.

Rosetti, UEFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the Referees Committee, was asked directly about the Premier League but insisted on talking generally even though he made a big VAR launch in London.

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Rosetti said: “About the VAR intervention, I can tell you this: I believe that we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced.

“We forgot a little bit. Everywhere. You remember, eight years ago, I came to London. We discussed the ‘what VAR stands for.’ We spoke about clear mistakes.

“Why we spoke about clear and obvious mistakes. Because technology works so well in factual decisions. In objective decisions, it is fantastic. For interpretations, subjective evaluation is more difficult. That’s why we started to speak about clear and obvious mistakes – clear evidence.

“I believe that we need to, at the end of the season, again in our meetings, to speak about this. We cannot go in this direction of microscopic VAR intervention. We love football like it is.”

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Rosetti is in charge of referees at UEFA competitions like the Champions League and Euros and said by slowing down – like “moviola” slow motion – you can spot many mistakes.

UEFA’s top referee official says talks are needed to rail back on VAR and too many checks but he says everyone pushed for it in the first place.

Rosetti added: “We call this moviola. Have you ever heard this word? Is this this: when you are watching the situation with the super slow motion, you can find a lot of things.

“You said this, not me. You are guilty in some way, because also you pushed for more interventions. Where is VAR? Why VAR doesn’t intervene? Why VAR is not involved? What are the VARs doing?

“But now we need to be careful about that. It can improve by speaking – we need to meet and fix.”

The Premier League insist there are just 0.15 on-pitch reviews in each game – or just 0.27 including factual decisions – and there are fewer checks than in the Champions League.

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