Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde is concerned the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) system may interrupt football as a spectacle.
VAR has been progressively rolled out in increasingly high-profile competitions in recent seasons, including at the World Cup finals in June and July, with mixed results.
The innovation has debuted in LaLiga this season, but Valverde remains wary of its long-term impact.
“The feeling is that video assistant referees and technology are here to help us, especially for justice in the penalty area,” he told the Barca website.
“I wouldn’t want VAR to interrupt the flow of games. The great thing about football is that it’s so fast, there are so few interruptions. The referees certainly need help but this shouldn’t be to the detriment of the speed of the game.
“I know everyone is hanging on what happens in the area, but in the World Cup final, France scored from a free-kick that wasn’t and that decided the game. So what’s more important? I don’t know, because I am also waiting to see how it all works out.”
criticism has been targeted at the effectiveness of the system in achieving its goal. In the opinion of Scott Stinson from the National Post, VAR, like any other replay system, fails to correct human error and instead only adds to the controversies because human judgment is still necessary. Lack of transparency is another contentious point, as teams have no way to know which incidents were reviewed by the VAR team.
At a press conference held after the group stage, FIFA referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina showed footage of the decision-making process accompanied with audio of the conversations between VAR officials and the referees. Asked if this audio could be made publicly available, as it is in rugby and cricket, Collina answered enthusiastically but cautioned that it might still be too early.
Others have pointed to the game-changing nature of VAR. Initial fears that using the system would lengthen the game considerably have not been confirmed, with every VAR review taking up an average of only 80 seconds.
The dramatic increase in the number of penalties awarded at the 2018 World Cup has been attributed to VAR catching fouls which would otherwise have remained unpunished.
Of the 169 goals scored in the tournament, 22 have been from the spot (with 29 being awarded in total), beating the previous record of 17 set in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Jonathan Liew of The Independent compares the situation to the introduction of the Decision Review System in cricket and notes the changes it had on that sport, and suggests that it might lead to changes of a similar nature in football.