Uefa trials new refereeing system

[dww]

[BBC]

Next season's Europa League - formerly the Uefa Cup - will be the testing ground for games using five officials.

The trial will see two extra assistant referees officiate by standing behind the goals and communicating by headset.

Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham are among more than 150 clubs set to play their European games under the system.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "We were looking where we can have such experiments. Now we have found a solution together with Uefa."

The idea is credited to Uefa president Michel Platini, who opposes goal-line technology and wants to retain a human element in decision-making.


The system involves an extra official standing on the side of each goal assisting the referee and two touchline assistants by communicating through headsets.

European football's governing body Fifa and its rule-making arm, the International Football Association Board, ordered a trial of the system last year as an alternative to using video replays.

Uefa used the five-official system at last year's under-19 European Championship qualifying matches in Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus, where it was hailed a success.

Having an extra pair of eyes monitoring play in each area had a preventive effect and promoted better decision making on suspected fouls.

Players were less prone to shirt-pulling at corners and free kicks, diving in the area and dissent, it reported.

The announcement that matches in the Europa League will be played with the experimental system came after a two-day meeting of Fifa's executive committee in Nassau.

Qualifying-round matches for the Europa League begin in July.

[CJ]

goal line technology is the answer

[Guest]

Why don't they use video technology? Makes more sense than piling on the number of referees even if more eyes blah blah has some logic. Still with this system, there will still be human error. The best way to go is to have implemented goal line technology like Tennis successfully implemented hawk eye.

[dww]

Because goal line technology only deals with goals and that is a small %age of decision making problems.

[Guest]

Because goal line technology only deals with goals and that is a small %age of decision making problems.

I meant a mix of goal line technology and video technology to assist referees in every match. We already have one assistant referee who barely does **** all, he might as well sit next to television footage and keep contact with the main referee whilst dealing with specific issues.

Football matches and especially specific situations in a match rarely go unnoticed in a match nowadays. I think what they're trying to do is a bit superfluous.

[SK]

well how much of a succes it was when they tested it here in a youth tournie is debatable, it wasn't particulary spoken of, and as far as i know the two extra refs didn't make any notable decisions. i don't think it will catch on.

[SK]

I meant a mix of goal line technology and video technology to assist referees in every match. We already have one assistant referee who barely does **** all, he might as well sit next to television footage and keep contact with the main referee whilst dealing with specific issues.

Football matches and especially specific situations in a match rarely go unnoticed in a match nowadays. I think what they're trying to do is a bit superfluous.

well, the 4th refs would probably have to view a couple of replays to make the right decision, and that would take some time.

imagine this...a defender gets the ball of a striker, perhaps with a foul, and his team counter attack and score..in the meantime the 4th ref studies the video and decides it was a foul, i think its just unworkable, decisions have to be made there and then in fooball imo

[Guest]

well how much of a succes it was when they tested it here in a youth tournie is debatable, it wasn't particulary spoken of, and as far as i know the two extra refs didn't make any notable decisions. i don't think it will catch on.

Exactly. Basically they're putting more people increasing the human error risk even more. Not sure about the mathematical aspect of that assumption, but I guess I may have a point there, regardless of how close the referees will be to the action.

There's still a fair chance they're going to miss things, especially at the speed balls travel (with lighter balls each season). It would have made more sense to blend goal line technology with giving extra duties to assistant referees, a bit like hawk eye in Tennis.

[Guest]

well, the 4th refs would probably have to view a couple of replays to make the right decision, and that would take some time.

imagine this...a defender gets the ball of a striker, perhaps with a foul, and his team counter attack and score..in the meantime the 4th ref studies the video and decides it was a foul, i think its just unworkable, decisions have to be made there and then in fooball imo

Still, the data is being recorded.

[Rich]

These two new dudes then must have the same responsibilities as existing assistant refs, apart from the obvious offside/onside task. Presumably they will flag for suspect challenges and the like - now my concern about this is that Assistant Referees are basically young refs that don't have the experience or perhaps skill to ref at the highest level giving these guys more power could lead to some very strange decisions in matches.

Apart from the obvious playacting (which this wouldn't solve) I believe the only area where we need to firm up on is respect towards the officials - i.e. similar to Rugby - only Captains can approach the referee, and the need for goal line technology to signal when the whole of the ball crosses the line - and that's it.

[Exiled_red]

I'm not sure what I think of this to be honest I can see that having move officials in principle means that there is more chance of getting decisions right but the game isn't as black and white as that. What happens if there is an incident in the middle of the pitch, and one assistant referee thinks it's a foul and the other thinks it's a dive, what happens then? I know ultimately the referee will have the final say, but if it's an incident he can't see how does he decide which one of the two is correct?

[Exiled_red]

Also I guess this means the 4th official will become the 6th official

[dww]

I think it is a good idea to trial it - although it does little for the credibility of the Europa league that it is used for such experiments. It's far from clear whether it is likely to be beneficial but I do think that it might well be.

I'm not a big fan of video technology in general - there are very few situations in a match where you can apply it without holding up the game and the dividing line between situations where it is worth while or not is pretty blurry. Even with video technology I think a lot of decisions would be debatable.