FOOTBALL chiefs are introducing three crucial rule changes for next season after huge criticism over VAR and handball penalties.
The most important change will see referees use pitchside monitors more often during matches, after the video assistants were often taking too long or simply getting the call wrong.
Football chiefs are making three rule changes to improve the VAR system and penalty decisions
And from now on penalties will only be given for handball IF it results in a goal.
The final change will mean spot-kicks are only re-taken if a goalkeeper comes off his line early – and saves the penalty.
That means that if the player misses the target, it will not be re-taken.
But the most significant change is in the use of pitchside monitors, something many players and managers have called for during this controversial debut season for VAR.
The clearest example of this was in the Spurs derby with Chelsea when Giovani Los Celso escaped a red card for an awful stamp on Cesar Azpilicueta.
The referee missed this incident and bizarrely the video ref did not deem it a sending-off offence.
But the ref is likely to have spotted it on a pitchside monitor.
The changes are being implemented by the International Football Association Board next season.
The IFAB said in a statement: “Where a reviewable incident is subjective, the expectation is that the referee will undertake an ‘on-field review.
“It was furthermore agreed that more insight into the decision-making process, for example access to the conversation between match officials during a review, would not be appropriate at this point, but that more effort should be made to enhance existing communication approaches to improve understanding of the review process and the referee’s final decision.”
The handball change would have meant Liverpool might not have been given a penalty in the Champions League final against Spurs in 2019.
It would only become a spotkick if a goal was scored within a very short space of time or few passes.
But this begs the question: Why not just award the goal in the first place?
The IFAB have also decided that handball offences will only count from anywhere below the armpit.
VAR has caused huge controversy in the Premier League this season with fans growing increasingly frustrated at the amount of time it takes to make a decision.
Supporters have also been angry at offsides being spotted with a toe or an armpit deemed offside after more than 30 reviews, slowing the game down even further and something that could never be spotted by the human eye in real time.
Some in the game have asked for a ‘referee’s call’ to be introduced, similarly to the ‘umpire’s call’ in cricket when deciding whether a wicket has been taken or not.
But IFAB chiefs decided against bringing in a rule to reduce the huge number of offside decisions.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
