By Ed Valentine
Several years ago, when football had character, there was a 20-30 second deluge of lager fuelled emotion each time a player scored a goal, at least in the English top division. Since the introduction of VAR that has evaporated away and has been replaced with a sort of “unrecognised item in the bagging area” check out moment as a team of referees validate if indeed the goal scorer was offside by the width of a cigarette paper.
Beyond the headlines and arguments about VAR errors or overall suitability, very little is spoken about regarding the rates of key events within games. Below is a short analysis of EPL data in the 5 years prior to the introduction of VAR and the 5 years from its introduction. There are about 70 games remaining in the current 23/24 EPL season so it’s not a perfect fit but generally an idea of trends can be examined.
About 10% more penalties have been awarded since the start of 19/20. It would seem, by my casual observations, that the increase in penalties awarded is off the back of what Robbie says here where the argument “I didn’t see that as my view was obscured” overrides the embarrassment of “I thought I saw but actually I was wrong”.
Clubs and players will know this and may approach scenarios when in the opposing penalty area to ‘draw the foul’ and go to ground more easily. This was evident in the recent game at Stamford Bridge where Madueke went to ground following Dalot losing his footing with the slightest of contact on the Chelsea substitute. VAR validated the on field decision which handed Chelsea the win from a losing position 4 minutes earlier. Great drama. If this was not blown on filed would VAR have overruled? Perhaps referees are calling more fouls in the penalty area knowing the support mechanism of the video assistants is there. All challenges in the box are checked while play continues in any case. We’d need to examine the number of overrules to get an indication.
Players may also be less inclined to engage in the 50:50 style challenge knowing that VAR will police it unlike before. This may support the drop in red cards awarded. It also adds to the drama element as 11 v 11 has better competitive balance than 11 v 10 generally.
Several years ago, when football had character, there was a 20-30 second deluge of lager fuelled emotion each time a player scored a goal, at least in the English top division. Since the introduction of VAR that has evaporated away and has been replaced with a sort of “unrecognised item in the bagging area” check out moment as a team of referees validate if indeed the goal scorer was offside by the width of a cigarette paper.
Beyond the headlines and arguments about VAR errors or overall suitability, very little is spoken about regarding the rates of key events within games. Below is a short analysis of EPL data in the 5 years prior to the introduction of VAR and the 5 years from its introduction. There are about 70 games remaining in the current 23/24 EPL season so it’s not a perfect fit but generally an idea of trends can be examined.
About 10% more penalties have been awarded since the start of 19/20. It would seem, by my casual observations, that the increase in penalties awarded is off the back of what Robbie says here where the argument “I didn’t see that as my view was obscured” overrides the embarrassment of “I thought I saw but actually I was wrong”.
Clubs and players will know this and may approach scenarios when in the opposing penalty area to ‘draw the foul’ and go to ground more easily. This was evident in the recent game at Stamford Bridge where Madueke went to ground following Dalot losing his footing with the slightest of contact on the Chelsea substitute. VAR validated the on field decision which handed Chelsea the win from a losing position 4 minutes earlier. Great drama. If this was not blown on filed would VAR have overruled? Perhaps referees are calling more fouls in the penalty area knowing the support mechanism of the video assistants is there. All challenges in the box are checked while play continues in any case. We’d need to examine the number of overrules to get an indication.
Players may also be less inclined to engage in the 50:50 style challenge knowing that VAR will police it unlike before. This may support the drop in red cards awarded. It also adds to the drama element as 11 v 11 has better competitive balance than 11 v 10 generally.
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