‘Get it right or bin it’ – Ex-Premier League referee calls for VAR charges after Everton farce.
Following the red card farce with Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, former refereeing chief Keith Hackett has called for radical changes with VAR
Former refereeing chief Keith Hackett has called for the balance of power to move back in favour of on-field officials and away from VAR after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s red card farce.
Calvert-Lewin was controversially sent off in Everton’s FA Cup third round match against Crystal Palace. Referee Chris Kavanagh did not award a free-kick for the striker’s foul on Nathaniel Clyne in real time. If the Blues’ appeal against the judgment had not been successful, their number nine would still be missing the third match of his punishment, which is against Luton Town today in the fourth round.
Former FIFA-listed referee Hackett, who took charge of Everton’s 1-0 win over Liverpool at Wembley in the 1984 Charity Shield before replacing Philip Don as the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, stated on Twitter that Kavanagh made the correct decision on
the field following Calvert-Lewin’s dismissal. “Then two of his colleagues forced him to walk the plank!” With the FA revising the judgment following Goodison Park’s claim of unjust dismissal, Hackett remains dissatisfied with how the situation unfolded and how VAR is being utilized in general.
He told the ECHO: “I saw the Dominic Calvert-Lewin sending off, there was certainly a bit of speed in it because he’s trying to defend the ball and he goes for it. The referee was in a good position, he’s not seen it as either reckless – which is a yellow card – or red.
“Then we suddenly have Big Brother coming in, saying, ‘you need to look at that’. I was watching it and thinking that this doesn’t fulfil the law in relation to serious foul play which contains the word brutality, there was no brutality in that challenge.
“In that particular game there was four Premier League referees watching on. You had the on-pitch referee (Chris Kavanagh), the fourth official (Tim Robinson), the VAR (Craig Pawson) and the SVAR (Michael Salisbury) yet they come to that consensus.
“Okay the fourth official is a bit distant but he’s hearing the conversation and has got a view but whichever way you look at it, how can four officials get this so wrong? That’s my worry.
“The referee initially decided on the field that it wasn’t an offence and he was happy with it so why do we then have to have the interference of VAR? Somebody has got to sit the referees down, and I suspect that’s Howard Webb, and say to them very clearly that the referee is the one in charge and they stand and fall by their decisions and let’s stop this nonsense of going to the screens and accepting things automatically.
“We know when the referee is going to the screen they’re going to change whatever the outcome was on the field of play. It’s lazy refereeing.
“If you think of a tightrope walker and he’s got no net, every step that he makes is his and he stands or falls by that next step. If you put a safety net in that he can drop into, his concentration can wane as it doesn’t matter if he falls and it feels like this is what is happening with referees and VAR when it comes to the key incidents like penalty kicks and dismissals.”
Hackett, who would want to see an independent panel of VAR operators, feels that referees should be held accountable by their colleagues when making decisions and, if necessary, removed for their own good if they make mistakes. He stated, “I consider myself fortunate to have had several excellent coaches during my time as a referee. They were people that the referees trusted and with whom we had a working relationship, so any doubts or dips in performance could be aired.
“Referees are like players in that they do lose form and when that happens you have to take them out of the oven. It’s not about tying people to a whipping post but you have a duty of care as their boss to provide them with the appropriate operational advice.
“You should be able to say, ‘talk me through that decision Chris Kavanagh, tell me why you sent off Calvert-Lewin. Tell me VAR how you came to that decision, were you satisfied with it, why did you immediately leap to a red card?’
“Hearing that debate and that discussion and sharing it with the other referees in the group is part of the learning process. That’s why we have regular meetings as referees to examine how we can improve our on-field performances.”
The Sheffield-born official, who turns 80 on June 22 and was one of the first set of referees in the Premier League, has always advocated for the increased use of science in football, having introduced communication kits, heat monitors to track referees’ movements and health, and pushed for goal-line technology, which is now standard in the sport. He feels those administering the game could go even farther and implement AI with semi-automated cameras to speed up offside rulings, but when it comes to VAR, he says it bluntly: “You either need to get it right or bin it.”
Hackett said: “Where it has to finish up in my opinion is we need the big screens in the stadiums and we need to follow rugby union. That means any VAR intervention is promoted by the referee but there could be times when a different viewing angle also brings in the VAR as an insurance cover.
“I believe we just need to re-think where we’re at with VAR. Anybody who says it’s great and it’s working can’t be watching games or involved in them.
“I suspect the PGMOL can’t be happy with what we’re seeing. I think we’ve got a relationship problem between referees and VAR and that is impacting on the referee who has a monkey on their back and subconsciously it is interfering with them making those accurate decisions.
“I’m seeing a lack of conviction in the decision-making process. Sometimes it feels to me like the referee just thinks, ‘well the VAR will pull me out of the mire with this one’.
“There needs to be an understanding that, and while I think there is, it doesn’t portray it on the field of play, that the referee on the pitch is the one in charge and they’re the one making the decisions yet we know that isn’t the case because when the VAR makes up its mind what is supposedly clear and obvious. VAR is there to ensure that we get the big decisions right but we’re not seeing that.”
Hackett believes that showing the incidents in question back to spectators will improve their experience while increasing the transparency of the decision-making process. “Then we come to the fans who are treated like mushrooms in the whole affair. It’s accelerating the social media view of corruption in our match officials, and I give you an assurance that isn’t the case; these people have high levels of integrity, there’s no question about that.”
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