Former Premier League referee Graham Scott has revealed the difficulty he experienced being a VAR official after retiring from the game.
Scott enjoyed a ten-year career in the Premier League as one of the Select Group of top British officials.
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The 57-year-old retired at the end of last season after a few years working at Stockley Park on VAR.
The introduction of VAR [Video Assistant Referee] has caused non-stop issues in the Premier League.
And now, Scott has admitted that he didn’t enjoy playing any role in VAR.
Speaking on Hawksbee and Jacobs, he said: “I miss being on the field because being a referee is far more enjoyable than anyone seems to realise.
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“It is the best seat in the house. You are in and amongst all these fantastic players, and you see the skill, and to be in the middle of a great game that goes from one end to the other…
“No one notices you are there, and you just go from one end to the other, but off the field stuff is no fun.
“Kyle Walker said recently that he’d play football for free, but he needs to be paid for all that goes with it, and being a referee is the same.
“The bit on the field, I never found particularly stressful. You are in control, and you have cards. But off the field, you can’t control anything, and the noise is insane – it is almost unbearable.”
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But specifically on being on VAR, Scott revealed this was one of the worst parts of the job.
“Being a VAR [official] is utterly unenjoyable, and while I can already here your listeners tuning up their violins, but it is utterly unenjoyable,” Scott added.
“I had a game at Brighton a couple of seasons ago, where Alexis Mac Allister scored the best strike from outside the box I have ever seen, and you put your head in your hands, and think, ‘I am going to have to chalk this off now’.
“You look at the replays, and you see that his shoulder is offside, and you draw the tiny lines, and you end up disallowing this goal.
“You spend minutes hoping that it’s alright, and there is nothing about that that any of us is taking any pleasure from.
“We don’t want it to be about us, we want it to be about the game – it’s horrible.”
Paul Hawksbee then asked Scott if he preferred football before VAR.
He said: “On the field, no because you occasionally made a mistake that cost someone the game, and that is the last thing you need.”
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The problem with VAR
The Mac Allister goal Scott mentioned came during a game against Leicester City, when a free-kick was headed out by a Foxes defender as far as the Argentine, who belted an effort into the top corner.
But Scott on VAR identified that a Seagulls player was offside and was interfering with play, so the goal was ruled out.
This is just one of numerous incidents since its introduction to the Premier League.
The various issues have been discussed over and over again for hours and hours, but Scott thinks he has a solution.
He said: “There have been improvements year-on-year, but they are incremental and people don’t always notice them.
“But there isn’t too much more we can do, and Howard [Webb] has done a great job at improving the process, it has got a bit quicker.
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“I think we need to do something much more fundamental. I think we should try a challenge system. FIFA are piloting that in some of their tournaments, but they are doing it because of a lack of resources.
“I would say one challenge per half, and that would be the only way VAR would get involved. I think you would still check offside on every goal.
“Fundamentally, we need to move to a challenge system, and coaches should be given 30 seconds, and rather than running to the fourth official, they would look at their laptops, and it would put the onus on them.”