Fox Sports football commentator Simon Hill says the much maligned Video Assistant Referee [VAR] is irredeemable and not what the sport should be about.
This weekend’s round was marred by upgraded red cards, goals chalked off from off the ball incidents, and potential sending off offences being overlooked.
“I just think it’s a nonsense,” Hill told SEN Breakfast.
“When we’ve got referees holding up the game for two, there, four minutes to go and jog across to look at a little screen and the fans are going ‘what’s going on here?’, and we’ve got goals being rubbed off for things that have happened in back play.
“Please, this is not the game I grew up watching.”
Hill said the VAR is not just frustrating for players and fans alike, the fact is incorrect decisions are still being made.
“We’re in a situation at the moment that the referees and VAR’s are more famous than the players, that can’t be allowed to continue,” he said.
“I was always against this VAR in the first place, I’m not just saying this with hindsight. My opinion is give the referees the power to do their job, and if the culture of the game needs changing then change the culture of the game, but not the nature of the game.
“I think it’s time consuming, it’s frustrating and confusing for players, fans, coaches, media and the bottom line is it’s been brought in to get things right, and it’s still not getting things right.”
He said technology’s only place in football is to decide whether the ball has crossed the line for a goal.
“The only thing football ever needed was goal line technology, a chip in the ball that they have in the Premier League,” Hill said.
“It sends a message to the referee in 0.5 of a second whether it’s a goal or not, so it’s actually quicker than the dammed VAR.
“We have a lot of problems at the moment in the A-League. I’d much rather us direct our intentions to some of those, than spending money on this thing that slows the game down.”
Herald Sun football reporter Dave Davutovic has branded the VAR system an “absolute farce”.
“It actually went alright last season but this year it has just regressed,” he told SEN Drive.
“This weekend there was pretty much every game where there was an intervention of VAR and some of them were just horribly wrong.
“They are starting to nit-pick and over-officiate. They really just need to leave it to the clangers and the obvious errors.”
To hear the chat with Simon Hill click on the player below