The RFU decided to bring its referees closer to the people. We are already used to the fact that before RPL or national team matches, someone takes a microphone and warms up the audience with music. Now the speakers will be used during the match. It is good that it is not like in Grozny many years ago, when Vilkov was accused of corruption. In a slightly different style: now the main judge, after watching the episode on the monitor, must announce his decision to the entire stadium.
The key here is to “announce,” not explain. Yes, this will not make the work of Russian referees public. Rather, it will add excitement to them and the media will probably create interesting memes.
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What will it look like? We already saw this in the test. Probationer Sergei Karasev studied the episode on the monitor, after which he must announce to the entire stadium: “After watching the episode: the player committed a punishable offense. Trick. Fine”. There is also a more extended version. The referee may say: “After reviewing the episode, the final decision is a red card for denying a clear scoring opportunity to player number 3. Hold the opponent.”
Basically, everything in the KHL. But the practice did not arise from there. The RFU reported that this experiment is being carried out by FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB). And the Portuguese and Mexican federations participate in it. Now Russia too. We need to be closer to world football. So far it is working like this.
Alexander Dukov
President of the RFU
“The Russian Football Union strives to introduce advanced international practices into our football. The experiment of announcing decisions after seeing VAR has proven effective in international competitions, which is why we approached FIFA and IFAB with the request to become the third football federation in the world to test this technology in the championship and the national cup In the first rounds after the resumption of the season, he will work in several matches on the circuit and at the end of the season he will be available in all matches.”
Yes, experiments are great. And it is stupid to evaluate them until the moment of execution. Maybe by summer everything will look so impressive that everyone will admit: how cool it is! But so far no big advantages are seen. The judges will only talk about what is already written on the stadium scoreboards and on the television image. Remember these subtitles: “The decision is confirmed – penalty” or “The goal is not counted. Offside”? Of course, there are those in the stadium who may not see this. Like in front of the screen. Maybe the experiment is aimed at them? Then everything is a little more explainable. It should be clearer for those present at the stadium what moment the referees looked at and why, for example, one of the players was sent off.
But you shouldn’t exaggerate its value too much. For just over a year, RPL officials asked the RFU to make the judges’ work public and allow them to explain their decisions after matches, but were banned. In the end we managed to reach an agreement on at least this. Is it progress? Hardly strong.
RPL leaders called on the RFU to make the judges’ work public and allow them to explain their decisions after matches.
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
This is how former RPL referee and refereeing expert Igor Fedotov described this story:
— The story of the announcement of referee decisions after seeing the VAR is clear: in hockey, why not in soccer? I’m fine with this. The main thing here is psychology. How will the referee behave during an important match, for example in Krasnodar, when 30 thousand people are pressing? At what heart rate will the judge approach the monitor? The referees never did this. Yes, there was such an experiment, Levnikov, Bezborodov and Ivanov participated in it. But there are also young judges and the big question is to what extent they are psychologically balanced. The main thing is to correctly and clearly present what you see according to the rules of the game. Don’t get into the weeds, don’t speculate whether the hand was pressed or not. Otherwise, you can talk nonsense, the media and fans will get hooked and devour you.
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In general, since Russia likes to rely on global experience, why not look at how they work in the United States? Yes, there are no interviews with the judges yet, but for several years now all negotiations between the video assistants and the main judges have been public. That is, in a special program all controversial issues are resolved and the public understands perfectly why the referee made this or that decision. This also happened locally when we posted videos of the negotiations. But UEFA was not happy with this. Therefore, if the experiment continues, it will be in a highly truncated mode.
In England there is also progress towards opening. Howard Webb is slowly rocking the Premier League’s conservative ship, and negotiations between video assistants and principals have already appeared on television several times. Also, the trick of a leader is to admit mistakes. As soon as something scandalous happens, he calls the clubs to apologize. Because of this, a meme was even born about the fact that you can make as many mistakes as you want, and Howard will only get away with an apology.
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Maybe the RPL can become even more open and sooner or later start publishing negotiations between judges? The current experiment will increase the spectacle and make life a little easier for fans in the stadium, but it will hardly help to understand why exactly the referee made this or that decision. Although, judging by the words of the head of our judges, at this time there was no such task:
“That the referees announce their decisions after the intervention of the VAR in the RPL and the Cup is a test that the IFAB is currently conducting in some football tournaments,” said Pavel Kamantsev at the championship. — All instructions and rules by which referees will work are written by the IFAB, not the RFU. Only the IFAB knows how this project will develop in the future. We work within the framework that exists. In football, everything new is being introduced little by little and I do not rule out that this is the first step, and in the future the system will be changed and there will be even more openness. Now the referees’ words must be extremely brief and understandable, helping the fans in the stadium understand what is happening. We hope that the information provided by our federation will be useful for the development of football around the world.”
