Will video evidence be introduced in the third division? There could be a scaled-down version. Forecasting wanted to know what you think about this. Here are the responses.
The discussions about video evidence are at least as old as video evidence itself. In its current form, video evidence has been in use in the Bundesliga since the 2017/18 season and in the 2nd division since the 2019/20 season. Since then, adjustments have been made repeatedly.
Since then, there have been discussions about the pros and cons of the video assistant referee (VAR), when he is allowed to intervene and when not, and why he evaluates situations the way he does.
Opinions are divided: Some users welcome the idea, with the challenge model being particularly popular. “Take a look at field hockey. The players can use video evidence in the situation. If they are right, the team retains the right to use it again. If they are wrong, they lose that right,“ writes Facebook user ”Lars Christian.”
“Thorsten Willner” adds: “That’s how I would have introduced it anyway. Every coach would have three chances for the VAR to check something.” “Steffen Bonnekamp Gött” even senses the “model of the future,” as he writes: “This is the model of the future! Sure, there will still be ‘wrong’ decisions that are discussed, but this sometimes arbitrary use of VAR will finally be a thing of the past.”
In fact, it is above all the arbitrariness that has repeatedly caused discontent in the first two leagues. Above all, situations that have not been reviewed, even though video evidence is available, have repeatedly caused controversy. And that is a point of criticism from the community. “No, thank you! Better a few wrong decisions than arbitrary decisions,” writes “lenny21_” on Instagram.
Another point of criticism: the long interruptions and the loss of emotion. Many users, such as “Norbert Lohbusch,” are bothered by this. He writes: “Soccer has always thrived on emotion and wrong decisions, but this has always balanced out over the course of a season. What great games they were when bad decisions had our fans standing on the fences and the atmosphere really exploded. But after 93 minutes at most, everything was forgotten. That’s what football was all about. Not like today. When a goal is scored, you have to wait five minutes to see if you can cheer or not. But of course, everyone has a different opinion on this. For me personally, no VAR.“ Jörg Lukowski agrees: ”Even more interruptions,“ he writes meaningfully. Jörg Siebers fears: ”Then the game will be constantly interrupted because some coach has something to complain about.” That would probably not be a concern, because coaches would likely lose the right to challenge after a false challenge and would no longer be able to request VAR. So they would probably think carefully about when to call VAR. “Video evidence in general is detrimental to the sport. Wrong decisions are part of the game, just like bad passes. Who would still be talking about Wembley or the “hand of God” today if VAR had intervened? But it’s all about money, and for that, the soul of soccer is gradually being sold off,“ says ”Thomas Schiff.“ Probably no one. But in the age of technology, there will probably never be another ”hand of God.” Probably not even in the third division soon.