From Liberty to Injustice; the solution to the Championship’s referee woes?

💙 Blues leave the Jacks feeling blue

The travelling Jacks left Birmingham empty handed on Saturday; with nothing except continued frustration at the EFL’s officials as high flying Slovenian-Zan Vipotnik saw his strike chalked off, despite replays showing he was clearly behind the last defender.

Talk of VAR has circulated the Championship since its introduction in 2019 to the Premier League, but would it fix the issue or just add fuel to the fire of fans’ frustrations?

⚖️ Fine margins, rough calls

Alan Sheehan declared that officials have ‘got to get them right, whatever the outcome is’ in his post match interview and although he was clear the Jacks could not pin the result down to one decision, he expressed his obvious disappointment. So could these ‘fine margins’ be fixed by the simple addition of a video assistant referee?

🌍 VARiety Abroad: the Championship’s missing ingredient

VAR is now a staple in the second division in countries like Spain, Italy, France and Germany and with the Championship widely considered to be the strongest second flight league in the continent, it all feels slightly behind the times here in England and Wales.

🌐 Inevitable internationals, domestic dramas

Swansea fielded 10 players with international caps in their narrow loss in the Second City and in a league laced with representative honours and ex Premier League talent, players would be no stranger to video assistants.

🧠 A Pep talk to motivate the FA?

The Jack Army will almost certainly remember the dubious FA Cup loss in 2019 as Graham Potter’s side lost out to reigning Premier League champions, Man City following two poor decisions, including a penalty and a missed offside. After Pep Guardiola’s men came out 3-2 victors, Swansea issued an official statement declaring, ‘we are in the dark ourselves over the non-use of VAR here and that it would only be used in Premier League stadiums.’ The bitter taste served up by the FA was made stronger still given that Swansea had scheduled an inter club game for the trial of VAR back in October of the previous year. Even City boss, Guardiola, offered up condolences following his team’s progression. The Spaniard’s side went on to win the tournament, handing now fellow Championship side Watford a 6-0 thrashing to complete the domestic treble.

With Championship fans regularly travelling home with no points and just complaints, million pound mistakes becoming the norm and referee errors at an all time high, is it time for a change?

🔁 Ref-reshingly repetitive: an endless loop?

However, VAR comes along with its own critics too, in the 2023/24 season the Key Match Incidents panel deemed the system to have made 31 mistakes over 380 matches in the Premier League, with an incorrect call every 20 reviews. It’s not just the decisions frustrating fans, in the same season the VAR average delay per game reached 64 seconds. Notably, in March earlier this year, a check for a Bournemouth goal took upwards of eight minutes, causing understandable disarray amongst both sets of supporters. The Championship is trademarked for its fast paced and rough-yet electric-style of football. The games need the flow they currently possess to sustain the excitement and elation from fans in the stands.

🗣️ Manning up; when will they make the call?

This very week, one year ago, Luke Williams and Liam Manning locked horns after a controversial 1-1 draw as the Swans hosted Bristol City. Manning was insistent Ben Cabango’s early effort should have been ruled out for a foul on Robin’s midfielder, Max Bird. The current Canaries’ boss said ‘it’s getting to the stage where VAR will probably help it.’ So is the matter as simple as some decisions going your way and some not or would VAR help to improve our much beloved game in the second division?

⚽ The ball is still in play…

Ultimately, it’s the same pair of eyes watching the decision back and although glaring errors like that on Saturday would be eliminated, would it only create a different complaint for fans and players alike?