The Premier League will change its policies regarding disclosing their VAR audios by giving fans worldwide a chance to hear how the referees make decisions during the matches for the first time this season.
The decision to release the audio of the discussion between the VAR and the on-field officials was finally made after several controversial decisions and calls were made over the weekend.
One major contributor to the decision was the controversy of the ‘goal’ from Alejandro Garnacho for Manchester United against Arsenal, which was later sentenced to be offside and thus ruled out.
After the game, with the Gunners being victorious after two late goals in stoppage time, Erik ten Hag voiced out against the VAR, claiming that he felt that numerous decisions taken by the officials were incorrect.
Due to the continuing sparking controversy, now everyone will have the chance to listen to the exact pointers that were factored in to decide by VAR and the on-field referees regarding Garnacho’s strike.
Arsenal Vs Man Utd Clash
According to ESPN, an episode of ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up’ will be aired on Wednesday, September 6 at 8 p.m. on Sky Sports. The show, featuring Michael Owen as the guest, will also be broadcast on TNT Sports at 8:30 p.m. and shall be available to all rights holders internationally.
The decision was enabled after a successful trial in May, when Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer, explained the various calls between the match official and those at Stockley Park. Webb has also been sharing the VAR audio regularly this season, initially monthly.
So far, there have been three high-profile errors, and the present circumstances give the Premier League a chance to flaunt its open and transparent approach to decision-making.
After taking charge at the end of last year, Webb has taken numerous steps to acknowledge significant errors, such as failing to award an injury-time penalty to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Manchester United on the opening weekend when goalkeeper Andre Onana appeared to foul Sasa Kalajdzic.
