In the past season, the VAR caused heated tempers, especially in the final stretch of the season.
The scene that probably decided the championship in the match between Rapid and Salzburg is symbolic of this, when the “Bulls” were denied a penalty and the Hütteldorfers scored in return (read here>>>).
Or Oumar Solets “Schwitzkasten-Aktion” against Sturm kicker Jon Gorenc-Stankovic, which went unpunished.
In Sweden, the vote has already been taken against the introduction, and in England, it was also discussed, the clubs ultimately rejected the abolition.
VAR a “philosophy question”
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In Austria, however, the video referee is not up for debate, even if league boss Christian Ebenbauer shows understanding for this, as he recently “spoke at length with the Swedes about it”, as he explains.
There, everyone involved asked themselves the question: “What does this cost us and what does it actually bring us?” In the end, they came to the conclusion: “We are very traditional here, we will not introduce VAR. This is not a decision that will last forever, but it is now fixed and will remain so,” he explains.
Ultimately, it is “a question of philosophy,” as he emphasizes. One person who also sees great value in the VAR is Walter Altmann.
When only technology helps
The Tyrolean was named the best Bundesliga referee of the season on Wednesday. He said the video assistant was “indispensable”.
“It’s a development that we’ve been through and football is constantly evolving,” he says. One reason for introducing VAR was the argument (which is much more of a fact) that the game is getting faster and faster, while human perception is limited.
VAR supporter and referee of the season: Walter Altmann
Photo: © GEPA
Altmann agrees: “I think that at some point we can only continue to develop on the technical side.”
In addition, despite all the innovation, expectations should not be raised to unreasonable levels. The VAR is intended to create more fairness, but one should not expect perfection. Nevertheless, Austria has some catching up to do to prevent the above examples from being repeated. And what does Walter Altmann think?
“It’s clear that there are always discussions. Because there are always 50/50 decisions,” he says, painting a picture that it’s not always just black or white. Rather, the shades of grey in between determine the decisions of the referees.
“I definitely support the idea that VAR is part of football because it has prevented some serious wrong decisions.”
Walter Altmann
And then “some see it this way and others see it that way,” explains Altmann. Overall, he sees the positive outweighs the negative. “I definitely support the idea that VAR is part of football because it has prevented some serious wrong decisions,” he says, reminding us that we must not lose sight of the desired end result.
Preventing serious errors in decision-making is “the actual aim of the VAR,” he stresses. And “it is also clear that it will never be error-free,” he concludes.
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2024-06-07 19:32:40
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