Liverpool will be among four clubs to serve as guinea pigs for a trial which’ll be brought into the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, VAR decisons were announced over the stadium’s public address system, with spectators informed as to the referee’s final verdict in each case, and a similar experiment is to be trialled in England for the first time over the coming weeks.
On Monday, the EFL confirmed that the technology will be in place for the last four of the Carabao Cup, in which the Reds face Tottenham and Arsenal take on Newcastle in two-legged ties, the first of which will be held next week.
VAR decisions will be announced to spectators at the stadium, although only the final verdict will be communicated and not the conversation leading up to the eventual call.
It’s stated that ‘the new pilot forms part of PGMOL’s broader commitment to transparency and embracing technological advancements for the benefit of Match Officials and fans’.
Few topics have caused as much controversy in English football in recent years as the implementation of VAR, with Liverpool fans at Anfield decrying the slowness of the decision-making process over two lengthy reviews during last week’s win over Leicester.
The in-stadium announcements won’t solve that particular issue, but at least they offer a step towards greater transparency, something which has been a major bugbear among supporters who’ve been left baffled over certain decisions from Stockley Park.
We still maintain that, similar to rugby, the conversations between officials on VAR reviews should be broadcast in realtime so that fans are privy to the discussions which take place – there’s no valid reason as to why those should be held in secrecy, only to be published at the whim of Howard Webb for a stage-managed, after-the-fact series.
It’ll nonetheless be interesting to see how the in-stadium announcements proceed in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, and whether they’ll enhance the matchgoing experience for supporters of Liverpool and the other three clubs still involved in the tournament.
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