Coincidentally, the technical panels of the International Football Association Board (Ifab) met to discuss potential changes to VAR last week, with incorrect corners which led to goals on the agenda.<\/p>\n
The Italian FA suggested corners should become part of VAR’s remit, and it was thought to be the most likely change to be introduced because it is normally a factual decision, rather than subjective. <\/p>\n
That means time would not be taken up by the referee going to the pitchside monitor.<\/p>\n
But there were mixed views from the members of the advisory panels – which feature former players, coaches and referees – and it was rejected, because it would mean checking how the ball went out on every goal that results from a corner. <\/p>\n
There’s a real worry about adding anything to VAR which would cause additional delays.<\/p>\n
And it would also break one of the fundamentals of Law Five that applies at all levels, with or without VAR, which says a referee cannot change a restart decision if he realises it’s incorrect after play has restarted. So, once the corner is taken and play is live, the game must continue.<\/p>\n
If you’re not going to break that key part of Law Five, you have to review every corner – on average there’s about 10 per game in the Premier League – and make sure the decision is correct before it’s taken. Dyche reckons such a check would take five seconds, but nothing in the world of VAR is that quick.<\/p>\n
The Ifab’s panels did recommend reviewing second yellow cards shown, because they are not such a regular event, but even that is controversial to some.<\/p>\n
In July, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said he was against any expansion of the powers of VAR. That’s important, because the Ifab board is comprised of the four United Kingdom football associations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) with one vote each, and Fifa, with four votes.<\/p>\n