Football lawmakers have NO plans to put time limits on VAR checks – despite it taking nearly SIX MINUTES to rule out West Ham goal against Aston Villa
Football’s lawmakers have no plans to place a time limit on VAR checks, despite West Ham fans complaining about the five minutes and 37 seconds they were left in limbo at the London Stadium before the international break.
That was the Premier League’s longest delay to date as the home side’s potential winner against Aston Villa was disallowed, prompting calls for a limit such as two minutes to be slapped on Stockley Park interventions.
Yet IFAB are not considering imposing a clock on checks, with insiders confirming to Mail Sport that they believe ‘accuracy is more important than speed’ and they fear it would ‘threaten fairness’.
Their reasoning is that some situations can be complex to diagnose with more than one ‘event’ to investigate.
In West Ham’s case, the PGMOL say VAR Tony Harrington had to look at two offsides as well as deciding whether the ball struck the arms of Jarrod Bowen or Tomas Soucek before going in.
Football’s lawmakers have no plans to place a time limit on VAR checks, despite the uproar after Stockley Park took five minutes and 37 seconds to rule out West Ham’s goal vs Aston Villa
The decision to disallow Tomas Soucek’s goal was the longest in the Premier League to date
Insiders said ‘accuracy is more important than speed’ and they fear it would ‘threaten fairness’
Likewise, IFAB feel a time limit would throw up the possibility of a VAR finding a crucial angle just as his deadline approached, rendering him unable to use it to make an accurate call.
It is also being taken into consideration that it would pile even more pressure on officials who are already under enough stress as it is.
The Premier League accept that the supporter experience of VAR needs to improve and they are planning to allow referees to announce the outcome of video decisions inside stadiums from next season.
While it is understood they would be open to following the rugby approach of allowing fans to listen in to VAR deliberations live, IFAB have long resisted the urge to allow that.
