At a Shareholders’ meeting today, the implementation of VAR was discussed at length and the Premier League and PGMOL committed to improving the consistency of decisions, speeding up processes and increasing communication to fans.
PGMOL managing director Mike Riley addressed the clubs and accepted improvement is required. While VAR is an ongoing process and has corrected a significant number of on-field errors, he explained that speed and consistency of decision-making are priority areas of work and will improve as the officials become more experienced with the technology and protocols. The clear and obvious test was reaffirmed for subjective decisions to narrow the area of debate.
Going forward, and working within the IFAB protocol, there will be increased information made available to attending fans and viewers watching around the world. This will explain in more detail what is being checked. Importantly, the Premier League will continue to show the definitive clip or image for all overturned decisions in stadia, and remains the only major European League to do so.
The policy of using the Referee Review Area was discussed and it was reemphasised that it would be reserved for unseen incidents, or when information from the VAR is outside the expectation range of the referee. Ensuring the pace and tempo of Premier League football remains an important focus for clubs.
The core principles of VAR were reiterated. These are minimum interference for maximum benefit, maintaining the pace and tempo of Premier League football and correcting clear and obvious on-field errors.
Clubs strongly represented the views of their supporters and agreed VAR should be under constant review. Research will now take place with fans, and other relevant stakeholders, to understand their views on how the application of VAR could be best improved