- VAR caused close to an eight-minute delay in Bournemouth’s clash with Wolves
- The semi-automated offside technology failed during debut in English football
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Fans were outraged during Bournemouth’s clash with Wolves after VAR caused almost an eight-minute delay following an issue with the semi-automated offside technology.
Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez clumsily combined to double the Cherries’ lead in the 34th minute, when the latter’s header was deflected off Huijsen on its way over the line following a deep corner.
Initially, there was a VAR review to determine whether the ball struck Huijsen’s arm and if the goal should have been ruled out for a handball – this lasted about a minute or so, before the real controversy began.
The VAR then began to check for an offside, and planned to deploy semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) to help with the decision.
The technology was available for use in Aston Villa’s game against Cardiff last night and quickly cleared Marco Asensio’s first goal.
In a disastrous moment for the FA, the semi-automated offside system was not working, meaning the VAR had to go back to the ‘old-fashioned’ line-drawing method to determine whether Huijsen was offside.
There was almost an eight-minute delay in Bournemouth’s FA Cup clash with Wolves after the new semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) malfunctioned in its debut appearance
Bournemouth thought they had doubled their lead before Dean Huijsen was called for offside
The VAR had to resort to the ‘old-fashioned’ line-drawing method to see if Huijsen was offside
The FA’s website says that semi-automated offside technology should reduce decision-making times by an average of 30 seconds.
It is understood most offside decisions will be quicker but the VAR will still have the option to draw lines as a back-up to the SAOT system if needed. The process may be required where players are blocking the view of the ball – or other players – which interferes with the cameras, which was the case for the check for Bournemouth’s second goal.
VAR decisions may also still take longer where there are multiple checks needed, for offside, fouls or handballs.
Chants of ‘it’s not football anymore’ and ‘this is embarrassing’ rung around the Vitality Stadium, as both Bournemouth and Wolves supporters were equally frustrated at the unprecedented delay.
Fans also took to social media to express their irritation, sharing the match-going fans’ sentiments that the incident was simply ’embarrassing’.
One user wrote on X: ‘Every new bit of technology we add to football makes the game so much worse. That time to work out an offside in the Bournemouth game is pathetic.’
Another said: ‘Absolutely disgraceful scenes at Bournemouth. 8 minutes to check a goal and then rule it offside. VAR and these officials need to go.’
A third commented: ‘The refs and VAR outdoing themselves again with that goal for Bournemouth. More and more embarrassing each week.’
The semi-automated offside technology was also in use throughout last summer’s European Championships, and uses optical player tracking and virtual graphics to help provide a more accurate placement of the offside line.
It is being trialled for this weekend’s fifth round FA Cup fixtures and has been talked up to be a far more advanced method of calling offsides.
Fans took to social media to express their outrage at the ’embarrassing’ incident
The technology is being tested during this round of FA Cup games at Premier League stadiums
The system uses up to 30 newly-installed cameras which are mounted at various locations around Premier League stadiums.
They are able to capture footage at 100 frames per second, which is twice as high as the frame rate of broadcast cameras used by the likes of Sky and TNT.
These cameras pinpoint the exact movement of the ball as well as up to 10,000 surface ‘mesh’ data points per player.
This enables the technology to track whether or not any attacking player involved in the build-up to any incident was offside.
These are then ‘flagged’ automatically in SAOT software to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and SAOT operator.
What part of the system exactly failed in Bournemouth’s game with Wolves is currently unknown.
