NPFL continue to sleep as England roll out VAR for lower league and women league
The system could be used from the start of the 2023-24 season and would aim to protect against damaging refereeing mistakes
The managers of the Nigeria Football Professional League (NPFL) has again failed to emulate the best global practices in an era when leagues that are even below the premiership elsewhere are up with the best.
Though officiating in English football is not a mammoth problem like in the NPFL yet the managers of English Football and Women’s Super League have are aiming to bring in a VAR-light system as a low-cost alternative to the video referees used in the Premier League.
The system could be used from the start of the 2023-24 season and would aim to protect against damaging refereeing mistakes, but would not have the offside technology or the same number of cameras used in the top flight.
The International FA Board is set to approve more competitions using a VAR-light system when it meets on March 3. It has been tested in several countries, including the Netherlands, and at the Asian Football Confederation’s Women’s Club Championships.
Fifa’s protocols allow for two main VAR-light systems — one using up to three cameras and the other between four and eight. They are flexible enough to allow competitions to decide on the number of staff involved and the VAR-light is aimed at countries lacking the resources to run the full system.
One EFL source said that VAR-light could be the perfect solution as it would avoid the marginal calls that have caused controversy in the Premier League.
“If there is a low-cost video monitoring system that stops the real blunders but does not get into a toenail being offside or studying every handball in minute detail then that could be the best of both worlds,” the source said.
The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), the body that manages elite referees, has held talks with both the EFL and WSL about bringing in a VAR-light system to their competitions.
Kelly Simmons, director of the women’s professional game at the FA, told The Times: “Definitely, we are really keen to do it in the WSL. We have had early discussions with the PGMOL about looking at VAR-light and we are working on what that would look like and what would the costs be for us to deliver that. It is really critical that it comes in as soon as we can do it and can afford it. We have a fantastic group of referees, but without technological support, you cannot see every single decision and you want those game-changing decisions to be as close to 100 per cent as possible.”
Football buffs in Nigeria believe the standard of our league will improve tenuously if we embrace technology.
