2 incidents over the last 2 days highlight how poorly video technology is used in football compared to rugby.
Everton v Newcastle: Craig Pawson gives a yellow card for a foul by Allan on Saint Maximin. He's asked to check the screen by the VAR man. Result: Decision overturned from yellow to red.
Ireland v Scotland: Wayne Barnes wants to look at the process leading to a Scotland try. He asks the TMO to re-run the process leading up to the try. Result: Original on-field decision upheld.
For me, in rugby, the on-field ref was in charge of the process & used the evidence that he may have missed, but he was still strong enough to explain why he was backing his original decision & why he had no need to change. This seems to be the basis for rugby refs using TMO. On the other hand, Pawson went to the monitor & you felt that he was going to change his mind regardless. I don't recall a VAR incident where an on-field ref has stuck to his original decision despite the evidence. In football, the process is led by the VAR men in Stockley Park & the on-field refs feel compelled to reverse their original decision despite the evidence. It's like they have to follow the feedback of the VAR men.
This is ridiculous as the whole point of VAR is to correct "obvious" mistakes & for the on-field ref to lead the process, not follow it.
In rugby. the TMO men are not existing on-field refs so there is a clear demarcation between the TMO's & on-field refs, but in football, you have refs who can be VAR men for one game & then 3 days later, they are on-field refs & could ref the same team that they were VAR a few days before. There is clear possibility of refs being confused between the two roles & this could affect their decision-making.
It's clear to me that we can't have on-field refs being VAR refs & so we need a whole team of specialist VAR men who are retired as this is now a specialist role. Surely, there are enough ex-refs who would appreciate their experiences & services being utilised in this capacity.
Like it or not, VAR is here to stay, but the process & selection process of VAR men is a shambles & needs to change.