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VAR technology is already in place around the globe.
One step too VAR
A LOOK AT LA LIGA

One step too VAR

Technology to help get the big decisions right may be coming in across Europe but we're still some way from seeing a 'video ref' in Spain

ROB PALMER

Friday, 2 March 2018, 13:45

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Where back in the Premier League they are wrestling with exactly how they will make VAR work, here in Spain we are waiting for some kind of indication as to when we may see it for the first time.

There is the bizarre 360 degree technology that spins into Spanish television coverage randomly, reaching a conclusion by purportedly giving you the view of the goalscorer through some virtual-reality-like view.

I'm still not sure what this brings to the coverage of a game and the Spanish match directors seem to throw it in haphazardly for no apparent editorial reason. Some TV executive has made an executive decision and by Jove we are going to get it thrown in, usually when we least expect it.

Sadly the executives who run the game can't agree. The Spanish Football Association president Juan Luis Larrea did say his intention was to have the system up and running for the first game of the 2018/19 season. There was talk of it being trialled in the Copa del Rey but we've exhausted all options apart from the final, so that looks like loose talk.

Meanwhile the president of La Liga Javier Tebas warns that it is too expensive and he can't see it happening. Gimmicky through the eyes of the striker technology is fine, something that may bring more accurate decisions will have to wait until mañana!

Once upon a time I was dead against technology playing any part in affecting decisions in football. My reasoning was that it created a gulf between the amateur and professional games. That argument has long passed as everything in professional football has advanced.

Now I'm swayed in a completely different direction: bring in VAR and all of the extras that come with it. At the moment the paying fans inside the stadium are the last to discover what's going on. I remember when I was lucky to get a ticket for the 2006 World Cup Final. Most of those at the stadium were phoning a friend immediately after Zinedine Zidane was dismissed. Nobody inside the Olympiastadion had a clue what was going on. Urban myth suggests that even the referee needed a TV replay to ascertain that the France legend had answered a slur with a head-butt.

So let's go the whole hog, let's pin a microphone to the referee, assistants and the man (or woman) with the replays. Let's use some of the TV money to erect giant screens inside the stadium so the fans have a clue what's going on. These days most people go to music concerts and spend most of the night watching the screens rather than the distant dots of the stage.

One day this will be the reality. Until then we are left with the virtual reality that gives us the view through the eyes of Cristiano Roanldo but would only be engaging if it told us what was actually going through his head.

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