VAR technology and the story surrounding the 'magic eye'

The nearly 50-day break of V-League 2023 is said to be for U20 Vietnam to compete in the Asian finals, to focusVietnam teamand U22 Vietnam is preparing to defend the 31st SEA Games Gold Medal, but in fact it is to train the referee team, moving towards applying VAR technology in V-League competitions. It is a good thing that Vietnamese sports in general, football in particular, are gradually catching up with the new trend in modern football management, although compared to the world we are always behind and quite far behind.

The referee's assistant screen is located in the middle of the stadium, behind the pitch. Photo: Getty.

The practice of applying technology to football competitions in advanced football countries, as well as the practice of the Vietnamese team in the recent 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup and the current national volleyball championship, shows the urgent need for this work. A significant advantage is that the strengths and weaknesses, if any, of referee support technology in the past will help us avoid unnecessary lessons, to do what is considered the best to truly bring about efficiency, quality of competition, ensuring the most objectivity and fairness possible for teams and players.

But after all, technology is a machine, is objective, but the one who considers and decides is human, so in reality, regrettable mistakes still happen, affecting the results of the match, even the achievements of a team in a season. StoryrefereeVAR and Arsenal in the Premier League are a strong testament to the above statement.

VAR course at VPF headquarters. Source thanhnien.vn

Referee Lee Mason had 15 years of refereeing in the Premier League, but with the mistake of not marking the offside line leading to the goal being awarded to Brentford, he was finally unable to continue working in the most exciting and quality tournament on the planet. Not only that, due to many errors caused by VAR, after the Arsenal-Brrentford match, the Brighton-Palace match, this technology agency had to urgently meet and thoroughly handle all related matters. However, the decisive whistle of the main referees after carefully consulting VAR sounded, Arsenal - the championship candidate still lost 2 regrettable points, unable to regain them, so the most important thing is still the fairness of the people using machines and technology in this case.

Thus, thanks to the application of technology, all decisions of the referees on the field have been more accurate and fairer in many cases. But not everything has been completely handled as many people expected. The emotions of the players and fans are constantly challenged when true joy only comes after waiting and consulting VAR. Joy comes but immediately disappointment also comes, if VAR finds an error, if VAR forces everything to stop, to change attitudes in a split second. The famous Brazilian team at the 2014 World Cup played extremely well at home but was extremely disappointed when VAR intervened, ruining the match because of consecutive offside errors committed by the attacking players, like a long-standing habit that is very difficult to break.

Not only in football, but also in tennis or volleyball, there is a similar situation. The match always has to stop to resolve the right to complain of the team or the players. Sometimes the complaint is correct thanks to technology to determine the landing point of the ball or whether the ball has touched the hand or not. But sometimes the complaint is to reduce the excitement of the opponent, which the coaches apply as a method to help the home team regain balance.

VAR screen installed at My Dinh Stadium. Photo: FPT Play

To say that, applying referee support technology in general, VAR (video assistant referee) or Goal-line technology is necessary for sports to achieve higher quality, minimizing all unnecessary errors in refereeing, which always causes public outrage, always leaving many unwanted aftertastes in sports life for a long time.

With V-League, after the training trip which is considered important and necessary at present, hopefully each time VAR is involved, it will bring a positive result in each match. Hopefully VAR will not benefit anyone, nor harm anyone, but only serve best what the naked eye cannot see, what happens in a split second that mortals do not have an immediate correct answer. Only technology - the divine eye can do that, to help people get the best possible results, make the most accurate decisions after having the "divine eye" support and advice./.