Antonio Rudiger is the most recent player to speak out on the need for VAR in the Premier League. Jorginho may agree, but for now he should be relieved the league is behind the times.
Antonio Rudiger’s statements about need for video oversight of the referees may not have been as viral-ready as Charlie Austin’s, but the sentiment is the same. The official in Austin’s game was at least looking at the play when he made the disputed call. Kevin Friend was 30 yards away running the opposite direction when Everton’s Bernard and Rudiger had their altercation. With literally not a glimpse of what happened, Friend gave one yellow to the Chelsea man and one to the Toffee in an orgasm of both sides-ism.
As much as Chelsea fans may have rued the lack of VAR in that instance, they were quite happy the system was not in place earlier in the game. Jorginho received a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Gylfi Sigurdsson. It should have been red. Jorginho left the ground, lost control, had both boots and studs up, and scissored Sigurdsson’s leg.
If any player had done that to Eden Hazard, we’d still be on the Angry Mob Fun Run. And rightly so.
In terms of player safety and protection, Kevin Friend’s decision on Jorginho was more serious. But for overall competence and credibility – not just for himself, but for all match officials – the cards for Bernard and Rudiger are the stuff of legend.
Set aside any question of who was right and who was wrong, who started it and who responded inappropriately, which shade of blue you wear on the weekends. Friend did not know what happened. Beyond what little his assistants informed him, for all he knew Bernard kicked Rudiger in the junk, Rudiger pulled down Bernard’s shorts, Bernard made an obscene hand gesture and Rudiger removed his shirt to show an explicit tattoo of Bernard’s mom.
Friend. Didn’t. Know. Even if his assistants did tell him what they saw, they could not have given him enough detail to make a fair and accurate assessment. Rudiger and Bernard were well behind the play, away from where the officials would be looking. If viewers needed a video replay to understand what happened, the other officials could not have recognized what happened in real-time. Kevin Friend thought it was better to show false equanimity in order to “Do something!” than admit what he did not know and did not see.
Which brings us to the final insult. By awarding yellow cards for the incident he did not see, Friend precluded it from being reviewed for retrospective punishment. Let’s say Bernard did, in fact, stand up with the intent to headbutt Antonio Rudiger. Upon review, the Football Association could give him a red card and three-game ban retrospectively. Kevin Friend took that option off the table.
That’s why the rule is there. A referee cannot see all things at all times. This does not mean anyone in his blind spot has carte blanche. But Friend signed the get out of jail free card. And for what? Control? Authority? The subsequent 45 minutes (and at least the previous 20) showed he had little to none.
Video assistant referees are not there to replace referees. This not a question of “robots are taking our jobs!” The same referees on the pitch will be in the rotation to be the referees in the booth. VAR is about the integrity of the game, the quality of the referees (the “third team”) and the safety of the players.
Sadly, the current crop of referees do not seem overly bothered by their performance. They continue to impose their will on games out of pride, rather than taking pride in doing the job right. The individual officials, the FA and the PGMOL apparently did not do any soul-searching after no English referees were named to the 2018 World Cup. That tournament had VAR, as it happens, and it settled many disputes, was applied efficiently and overall led to a better competition.
These referees would rather be in charge than right. Their pride can withstand being wrong, but not being corrected.
Chelsea benefitted once and suffered once from the lack of VAR on Sunday against Everton. Overall, though, everyone suffers from incidents like Jorginho’s, and the one between Bernard and Antonio Rudiger.