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Has Video Refereeing Ruined The World Cup? (npr.org)
An anonymous reader shares a report: This is the first time FIFA, soccer's governing body, has allowed video replay to be used to make penalty calls in a World Cup. And while fans of basketball and American football are used to the referees stopping the game to consult video footage, soccer purists say it's ruining everything. The major complaint is that it's making the matches much longer than the typical 90-minute games. Martin Rogers, a sports columnist for USA Today, says Video Assistant Referee (or VAR) is "slow, clunky and unpredictable." Over the phone from Russia, where he's reporting on the World Cup, he jokes, "I remember back in the day, when if a game kicked off at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you'd be all wrapped up by 4:45."
Rogers says this type of technology works well for American football and basketball. "When you look at the calls that are used for replay, in basketball for example, it's normally factual. It's based on, 'Did a player get a shot off before the clock expired?' It's easy. You know. It's black and white." But soccer, Rogers says, is different. He's referring to one of the most hated and beloved qualities of the game: the endless drama. It's a thespian sport.
Rogers says this type of technology works well for American football and basketball. "When you look at the calls that are used for replay, in basketball for example, it's normally factual. It's based on, 'Did a player get a shot off before the clock expired?' It's easy. You know. It's black and white." But soccer, Rogers says, is different. He's referring to one of the most hated and beloved qualities of the game: the endless drama. It's a thespian sport.
If a player is writing on the ground in pain, then for their own safety, they should not be allowed to return to the game at all.
Whether they can get up afterwards and say they can play immediately afterwards is not an issue - no players should be allowed to play with the possibility of an injury, imagined or otherwise.
Ryan Fenton
Whats ruined the world cup? A few things about FIFA soccer in general should have been coffin nails for the agency..
1. fixed matches and corruption. FIFA has a long, long history of total corruption as it pertains to the sport. Despots have chaired it with impunity and most of the executives could easily mistake a trombone for a four star hotel.
2. Racism. turning the live coverage black and white is a novel idea to give viewers at home a sense of when racism is taking place in stadiums, but its a hollow gesture designed to punish the many for the actions of the few. Something I might add which is illegal under the Geneva conventions. Instead of cleaning up racist actors and venues, FIFA has decided the saturation knob is good enough.
3. Cowards.: plain and simple. Mediocre "superstar" players paid millions that feign injury and agony at the slightest encounter with even a slightly more qualified opponent. Youre representing an entire country. Act like it.
4. Riots.: Riots and rioters are something FIFA has decided must remain a cost socialized to the general public. Instead of stripping teams of wins or removing them from future play, FIFA stares at its collective shoes and does nothing. Disclosure: My Citroen burned like a fucking candle during the Glasgow riots, so i might not be impartial to this point.
Good people go to bed earlier.
> Disclosure: My Citroen burned like a fucking candle
Maybe someone was trying to keep the bugs away and got.confused.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Ou...
Not sure this is /. material, but I'll bite, as I occasionally watch football (sic), mostly national games like in the world cup or big CL games etc.
In any case, I thought that VAR should have come much sooner, as the unavailability of a replay is the excuse referees always had for bad result-altering decisions. In fact, on this world cup I saw that the problem was the opposite: currently the referree has to ASK for VAR. In one match for example, Sweden's attacker Berg should have won a penalty, but the referree was adamant it was not end did not ask for VAR. Well, he was wrong, and the procedure should have been such that the VAR room people should have told him themselves "eh, you know, don't be so sure about that". I am not a Sweeden fan, just one occasion I remember, there were a few more but not many. I'd also want video review to punish players who flop. Because maybe then they would stop flopping, which would lead to a much better game (they often stop trying to score a goal just to fake a foul/penalty).
Overall VAR helped deliver some tough calls and lead to a much more fair sport and it added a couple of minutes to the duration of each match, which is a completely idiotic reason to complain about. And there are many black/white calls in football (ball passing lines, offsides etc) and hopefully those will be the first to be handed off to some good AI/Machine Vision system to call, but harder things like penalty calls will take more time for that and VAR is not a perfect, but the best solution so far.
Why am I debating VAR on /. again? :)
PS calling it "soccer" means you are not in touch with the football world, as there is only one country that calls it that way (retaining the name "football" for a game played mostly by holding and throwing the ball), and they weren't even in the world cup. Yeah, OK, you might say it is not fair since he is an American reporter so what can he do, but then think about that he reports on the world cup and is bothered by the fact that the games don't finish in 1h 45m - Newsflash: THEY NEVER DID, we always had an unpredictable number of extra minutes which was never less than about 3-4 per game and sometimes went to over 10, way beyond the time VAR took (for most games it was like a minute).
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
While there are increased delays, there were already delays. An extra 30ish seconds after the goal already went into the net, to see if it should be cancelled is not appreciably different than the arguing that is normal when a controversial call or non-call happens. At least now a ref can say shut up and I am going to look at the video with my own eyes.
As for real game stopping delays for reviewing general non-calls, they do not stop play for that. Rather the video is reviewed an the ref on the field is consulted once the next throw in or whatever break happens.
Soccer (football) is a decent sport. However, it would be MUCH improved if the lame offside rule were removed. This way an attacker can be waiting down towards the goal, receive a kick and score. Also, there wouldn't be these stupid calls where the person was offside by six inches and they take a free kick.
Still - planning on going to France for the Women's World Cup next year. At least they don't fall to the ground as much as the men.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
My overall feeling in this cup is that VAR has been a well overdue positive innovation. I've seen some bad calls, included penalties, reversed because of VAR. There is nothing worst than losing a game on a bad penalty call by the ref. I am glad this is finally happening.
~~~Please pass the salt, I hate unsalted MD5s