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Albert Kidd 86’
05-05-2024, 06:43 AM
Why do referees exist?

imagine a game of football, any game, be it at school or champions league level, men’s or women's, without a referee.

first meaty challenge, debatable offside, the game would stop for long shouting matches between teams, chaos.

referees were invented to stop the constant bickering that would inevitably occur in any game of footy.

referees were invented as a necessary 3rd party figure that both teams accept as someone who enforces the rules/time of game etc.

Given that referees were invented as an outside figure whom both teams accept has final say on play and disputes, their stature should be respected and rightly or wrongly accepted, otherwise, chaos.

Mistakes happen, and we all take them as a slight to our teams, or conspiracies against us, but human beings make mistakes, in my view it is part of the game we accept in order to keep the game moving.

Then along came VAR.

now we are told that these figures that we accept as arbiters of in game disagreements, are not good enough, and require remote public correcting by their own colleagues, thus undermining the referees position.

VAR is a completely unwelcome development based on trying to perfect the unperfectable, and has only resulted in the public degrading of the referee’s ability, fuelling the idea that the referees are all “at it”.

Yes , referees make mistakes, yes, referees can make Big mistakes, but that is part of the contract we accept when we introduced refs into the game.

Sweden just dumped VAR, I vote Scotland do the same, this constant drilling down into every debatable incident, infuriates fans, undermines referees and slows the game down.

the only technology I would allow is goal line tech, to show if the ball crossed the line for a goal.

In case you are not convinced, imagine the next edinburgh or glasgow derby with either: no ref, human only ref or the current situation. Which would you prefer?

I would go for imperfect human ref, with resulting flowing game, mistakes and all.

DaveF
05-05-2024, 07:14 AM
I'd certainly vote for dumping Var. It's been a total disaster up here.

Viva_Palmeiras
05-05-2024, 07:20 AM
I’ll post the footage of AI point scoring in Boxing. Quite remarkable.

https://youtu.be/k40-NPkk7DY?si=Ni3gSEN6fsAIncXS

I’m wary of AI but that to oneside, (arguably) what we want to see is consistent application of the rules without bias. Fast forward the tech - Perhaps AI could get closer to that.

Cat Stanton
05-05-2024, 07:20 AM
Bacon? Sausage? Or just plain cheese?

Viva_Palmeiras
05-05-2024, 07:34 AM
Scotland has the highest attendance per capita in Europe in the footballing sense so we’re told.
So even moreso in Scotland football is about the supporters.

So why is it that we have such a little or small voice?

LewysGot2
05-05-2024, 08:05 AM
Bacon? Sausage? Or just plain cheese?

Scottish referees are surely a mince roll :wink:

Eyrie
05-05-2024, 09:24 AM
The problem isn't that referees are human and make mistakes.

The problem is that referees are human and have biases, subconscious or otherwise.

ancient hibee
05-05-2024, 11:01 AM
Scottish referees are surely a mince roll :wink:

Anyone wanting to be a referee is a sandwich short of a picnic.

Groathillgrump
05-05-2024, 11:10 AM
Bacon? Sausage? Or just plain cheese?

Sausage, as long as it's square. :aok:

CentreLine
05-05-2024, 11:33 AM
I’ll post the footage of AI point scoring in Boxing. Quite remarkable.

https://youtu.be/k40-NPkk7DY?si=Ni3gSEN6fsAIncXS

I’m wary of AI but that to oneside, (arguably) what we want to see is consistent application of the rules without bias. Fast forward the tech - Perhaps AI could get closer to that.

I think AI will replace referees in the top level and at the scary rate AI is developing, pretty soon. To my mind, VAR and Goal-Line Technology are just a stepping stone to that.