Should VAR be scrapped?

[PatHead]

I noticed that Sweden have refused to go with VAR.

As our system is a cheap version with hardly any cameras which limit it's effectiveness should we just get rid of it or should clubs pay more to have a decent system?

Personally I would get rid of it and invest the savings in widening the pool of referees from out with the Glasgow area.

If anyone feels like having a poll on this feel free to add it.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Yup. It’s a significant part of why I’m losing interest in going to games.

[marinello59]

Yes, get rid.

[tonyrougier123]

Smothering the game,has to go!

[Smartie]

Surprised I’ve ended up here as it is in principle something I think I’m in favour of but our implementation of it has been disastrous… but yes, I think we should get rid.

[Swedish hibee]

Didn't want it here. Hate it a million times more.
So proud that Sweden said no to var.

[Donegal Hibby]

Absolutely. Its doing nothing for the Scottish game apart from making things worse with the officials we have and is just another tool to help the old firm. Not been sure wither to celebrate a goal and lengthy stoppages there's a lot more negatives than positives about it . Hate the bloody thing!

[Winston Ingram]

I genuinely thought it'd be great as I naively thought that it would finally help us get on the right side of decisions v the uglies and Hearts.

Instead it's been a tool used to give the uglies even more decisions and to not even bother reviewing ours.

The biggest surprise to me is the media. There is absolutely zero scrutiny of mistakes in games outwith the old firm, leading to the refs not giving a flying and the VAR officials not bothering their arse. I'm not convinced there is even anyone in the VAR rooms for games not involving the OF.

https://twitter.com/scotlandscoeff1/status/1785636543811502502?t=DCJbtksjPjg_NFGGM9PU7g&s=08

[BILLYHIBS]

Bayern v Real was a breath of fresh air last night no VAR reviews the Ref just bossed it

Bin it we all knew Refs in Scotland were corrupt anyways just getting worse or maybe they are just incompetent

Too late coming back to us saying Hearts pen never a pen and we shudda had a pen against Saints everyone knew that at the time and there are loads more past bothering now tbh

[wookie70]

No. It is proving how corrupt our game is. I would put a time limit on it. Lay can stop no longer than 1 minute and if no decision is made the decision on field stands. That is 59 seconds longer than the ref gets so is plenty

[Onion]

VAR as it is applied in Scotland, by the usual suspects, is simply a new way for the authorities to screw Hibs and Hibs fans over. The previously, suspected bias and corruption within the game has simply been confirmed by VAR, and the process has been used as a shiny new weapon to ensure favoured teams get the results they need. VAR is an abomination. Great in principle, horrendous in practice.

I suspect the vast majority of fans would be happy to see it gone. It's the authorities and OF beneficiaries that want to see it kept.

[HendoDelivered]

Yes, get it so far to ****

[worcesterhibby]

I noticed that Sweden have refused to go with VAR.

As our system is a cheap version with hardly any cameras which limit it's effectiveness should we just get rid of it or should clubs pay more to have a decent system?

Personally I would get rid of it and invest the savings in widening the pool of referees from out with the Glasgow area.

If anyone feels like having a poll on this feel free to add it.

I applaud Sweden. Fair play to them. I hate VAR so much. Has utterly ruined the game for me. Don't watch much football anymore.

[JohnM1875]

VAR as it is applied in Scotland, by the usual suspects, is simply a new way for the authorities to screw Hibs and Hibs fans over. The previously, suspected bias and corruption within the game has simply been confirmed by VAR, and the process has been used as a shiny new weapon to ensure favoured teams get the results they need. VAR is an abomination. Great in principle, horrendous in practice.

I suspect the vast majority of fans would be happy to see it gone. It's the authorities and OF beneficiaries that want to see it kept.

It's not really just up here though. English refs and VAR application down south getting slaughtered recently as well. It's constant every week.

It was a silly little experiment and I think we’ve shown it doesn't improve the game. Has to be scrapped or at least put to a vote up here. Especially with the costs involved

I say this as someone who was all for it when introduced by the way.

[Carheenlea]

It’s anti football.

Anything that involves forensically examining footage in a desperate search to find the most minuscule of reasons to disallow goals should be nowhere near a great sport such as football.

Nations such as ours can also quite simply not be trusted with it, and its effectively a cheats charter to benefit favoured sides.

VAR has been an absolute shambles for Scottish football and the failed experiment can’t surely continue.

[mcohibs]

VAR has sucked the life out of football. The sooner everyone stops pretending otherwise the better. Get it in the bin.

[MWHIBBIES]

Certainly not. It is doing its job, the referees are not. Do something about them

[mcohibs]

I genuinely thought it'd be great as I naively thought that it would finally help us get on the right side of decisions v the uglies and Hearts.

Instead it's been a tool used to give the uglies even more decisions and to not even bother reviewing ours.

The biggest surprise to me is the media. There is absolutely zero scrutiny of mistakes in games outwith the old firm, leading to the refs not giving a flying and the VAR officials not bothering their arse. I'm not convinced there is even anyone in the VAR rooms for games not involving the OF.

https://twitter.com/scotlandscoeff1/status/1785636543811502502?t=DCJbtksjPjg_NFGGM9PU7g&s=08

Yep, it should have really evened the playing field but as you say it’s being used as a method to award more dubious (putting that kindly) decisions to the bigots.

The one positive is that it has further solidified how utterly incompetent our referees and governing body are in this country.

The equivalent to giving cavemen keys to a new Tesla and expecting them to be able to drive the ******g thing.

[B.H.F.C]

No. It is proving how corrupt our game is. I would put a time limit on it. Lay can stop no longer than 1 minute and if no decision is made the decision on field stands. That is 59 seconds longer than the ref gets so is plenty

I don’t think it’s proving anything (that we didn’t already know). It’s just giving them an additional opportunity to find a foul where certain teams are concerned.

Get it tae ****, hate it.

[B.H.F.C]

VAR has sucked the life out of football. The sooner everyone stops pretending otherwise the better. Get it in the bin.

Coventry against Man Utd in the semi final. Someone’s toe nail was offside. That’s no what VAR was brought in for. Pre VAR everyone would just have said the boy was level and that would be that. An iconic football moment lost.

But some will argue it was the right call.

[Donegal Hibby]

Certainly not. It is doing its job, the referees are not. Do something about them

I think there's quite a few times when the referees have been doing their job exactly right in their eyes on who they favour in games with the aid of VAR , see what they want and ignore what they don't like .

How do you do something about it when the folk at the top come out and tell you it's working fine and getting most decisions right yet most fans know it's a f****** disaster ! Nothing will change with it so what's the point in keeping it?

[Waxy]

Yeh it should have worked and theoretically shoud be be the right way to go
However it deosnt work with corrupt numpties in charge of using it in Scotland so get rid.

[Wilson]

I had a hunch it wouldn't work and it doesn't. We should get rid but it won't happen.

[Carheenlea]

The biggest challenge for football decisions are still, despite VAR, that they are matter of opinion rather than fact.

Offsides are now such that the art of playing off the shoulder of defenders to stay bang on line has been eradicated from the game. Instead, offsides are subject to infractions not visable to the naked eye, and are determined by unrealistic frame-by frame analysis that depends what frame is chosen as evidence. Drawing lines across TV screens is an unrealistic process to look for offsides and doesn’t present the actual true picture. It’s left to the opinion of a referee or VAR operative rather than decions made on actual fact.

Penalties decisions are still awarded on matter of opinion rather than fact.

The only real matter of fact in football is whether a ball has crossed the line to score a goal. Goal line technology is as far as we needed to go.

Works in sports like rugby and cricket where most rules are decided on fact rather than opinion. Football is a very different game in that regard.

[Eyrie]

It's clear from today's announcement about VAR errors that VAR simply isn't working properly.

The question is can that be fixed or are we as well just dumping it?

I was in favour of VAR with certain caveats (eg a time limit) but am now leaning towards scrapping it.

[leith lynx]

Scrap it, creates so many arguments it's turning the game toxic. Don't think it's truly fixable, its just not worth the hassle, sucks the life and spirit out of the game for me. The financial aspect as well, better spending that money on ref development, the only bit of technology I would use would be on hawkeye goal line sensors.

[cabbageandribs1875]

Nope :agree:

[ruthven_raiders]

Scrap it, creates so many arguments it's turning the game toxic. Don't think it's truly fixable, its just not worth the hassle, sucks the life and spirit out of the game for me. The financial aspect as well, better spending that money on ref development, the only bit of technology I would use would be on hawkeye goal line sensors.

Semi automatic offside technology, tho that might be too expensive, I'm sure the technology is out there to make it fully automatic, tho needs plenty cameras and tech inside the football....

Offside and goal technology only should be allowed, or at very worst, like American football or tennis, three challenges a game ..

[TrinityHFC]

Coventry against Man Utd in the semi final. Someone’s toe nail was offside. That’s no what VAR was brought in for. Pre VAR everyone would just have said the boy was level and that would be that. An iconic football moment lost.

But some will argue it was the right call.

Isn’t that exactly what it is for? It’s offside under the rules and one of the few things that isn’t about opinions.

[Stevie Reid]

Yes. Was dead against it from the start, but it’s been even worse than I thought it would be.

Still can’t get the major decisions right every time, and the number of penalties awarded for completely inconsequential handballs - and the number of goals disallowed for offside that require several minutes of drawing lines - is so anti-football.

[ancient hibee]

Nothing wrong with VAR mechanics. Everything wrong with the referees administering it. Not surprising-refereeing standards are rock bottom.

[mcohibs]

The only real matter of fact in football is whether a ball has crossed the line to score a goal. Goal line technology is as far as we needed to go.

Works in sports like rugby and cricket where most rules are decided on fact rather than opinion. Football is a very different game in that regard.

Spot on. The laws of football are not suited to the level of scrutiny that VAR enforces.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Nothing wrong with VAR mechanics. Everything wrong with the referees administering it. Not surprising-refereeing standards are rock bottom.

There’s plenty wrong with the mechanics of our version of VAR. There’s nowhere near enough camera angles for starters leaving many decisions still down to guesswork, including offsides.

[May21/05/216]

It's not doing any good so I would get rid

[B.H.F.C]

Isn’t that exactly what it is for? It’s offside under the rules and one of the few things that isn’t about opinions.

Factually it’s correct, yes. But surely nobody thinks that type of offside, that takes however long to decide if it was actually offside, is a good thing surely? It wasn’t clear and obvious, there was still a bit dubiety about how the line was placed as it appeared to go over the defenders foot and if VAR wasn’t a thing nobody would have been talking about it being a controversial decision or anything like that.

[Caversham Green]

I've gone undecided after nearly going for scrapping it.

I think the parameters need to change - it should be available for all decisions but operate under the 'clear and obvious' motto for all of them including offside. The VAR should look at the screen and decide that the player was clearly and obviously offside before he intervenes. If he feels he needs lines on the screen to make his decision then he doesn't draw them, he accepts the decision of the ref on the ground. for offside in particular the spirit of the law is far more relevant than the letter - the reason offside was introduced was to prevent true poaching - i.e. players camping near the opposition goal regardless of where the ball is. That isn't how it's being applied today. Football is a sport not a science and the more scientific it becomes the less attractive it is as a sport.

The honesty/competence of West of Scotland refs is a different issue and needs to be addressed separately.

[Carheenlea]

Football is a sport not a science and the more scientific it becomes the less attractive it is as a sport.



100% :agree:

[gbhibby]

I've gone undecided after nearly going for scrapping it.

I think the parameters need to change - it should be available for all decisions but operate under the 'clear and obvious' motto for all of them including offside. The VAR should look at the screen and decide that the player was clearly and obviously offside before he intervenes. If he feels he needs lines on the screen to make his decision then he doesn't draw them, he accepts the decision of the ref on the ground. for offside in particular the spirit of the law is far more relevant than the letter - the reason offside was introduced was to prevent true poaching - i.e. players camping near the opposition goal regardless of where the ball is. That isn't how it's being applied today. Football is a sport not a science and the more scientific it becomes the less attractive it is as a sport.

The honesty/competence of West of Scotland refs is a different issue and needs to be addressed separately.
One thing I hate seeing is the high line employed at free kicks sometimes less than 20 yards from the free kick.

[Donegal Hibby]

Read this about some of the VAR decisions that's went against us .
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/hibs-var-calls-controversial-celtic-rangers-hearts-uproar-brutal-season-4612917?page=1

[WhileTheChief..]

This half hearted approach / cost saving version doesn't work.

Either spend the money it requires and do it right, or get rid.

[Frazerbob]

Football is a sport not a science and the more scientific it becomes the less attractive it is as a sport.


Anyone else think of Jossy's Giants when they read this..........

"Here go Jossy's Giants, Football's just a branch of science, Head the ball, now Jossy calls . . . Jossy's Giant"

[Victor]

Introduce goal line technology, bin VAR for other decisions, now proven that it potentially cost us points and aided teams in the top three.

[Smartie]

Anyone else think of Jossy's Giants when they read this..........

"Here go Jossy's Giants, Football's just a branch of science, Head the ball, now Jossy calls . . . Jossy's Giant"

😂

Yep.

I suspect we’re the same age.

[Musselbound]

Bayern v Real was a breath of fresh air last night no VAR reviews the Ref just bossed it

Bin it we all knew Refs in Scotland were corrupt anyways just getting worse or maybe they are just incompetent

Too late coming back to us saying Hearts pen never a pen and we shudda had a pen against Saints everyone knew that at the time and there are loads more past bothering now tbh

There is little chance of it being scrapped imo. Only been o e season and it needs time to improve. The main way to do that would be to have a lot less interference as on the example mentioned above. There have been signs of this in countries where it has been in use for longer. But there will always be controversies with or without var.

[Jones28]

Factually it’s correct, yes. But surely nobody thinks that type of offside, that takes however long to decide if it was actually offside, is a good thing surely? It wasn’t clear and obvious, there was still a bit dubiety about how the line was placed as it appeared to go over the defenders foot and if VAR wasn’t a thing nobody would have been talking about it being a controversial decision or anything like that.

You have to draw the line somewhere, I’d much rather it was factually offside than open to interpretation. If a toenail is offside then it’s offside.

[TrinityHFC]

Factually it’s correct, yes. But surely nobody thinks that type of offside, that takes however long to decide if it was actually offside, is a good thing surely? It wasn’t clear and obvious, there was still a bit dubiety about how the line was placed as it appeared to go over the defenders foot and if VAR wasn’t a thing nobody would have been talking about it being a controversial decision or anything like that.

Clear and obvious doesn’t come into it with offsides. I don’t like the forensic analysis of it myself but it is one of those things that they have agreed are matters of fact and you’re either on or off.

As someone else said, that line will always have to be somewhere.

[Lago]

It's hard to disagree with Motherwell's Stuart Kettlewell when he says games better with out VAR
And it's costly, money could be better spent.

[MKHIBEE]

Isn’t that exactly what it is for? It’s offside under the rules and one of the few things that isn’t about opinions.

It was hardly “ clear and obvious” though was it?