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Following on from the Scottish referees and VAR interview, former Scottish Referee, Des Roache reacts to the new piece of kit that could soon be available to referees - Semi-Automated Offside technology. SAOT, has been trailed throughout the summer and will be used during the 2022 Uefa Super Cup and Champions League group stage. Roache gives his expert view of what that means for the game of football and referees.
Football will not get to the same level as a FIFA video game, refereeing will always have a human element despite the introduction of automated decisions
We’re not sitting at home playing a game of FIFA. I would never like to think that refereeing would be replaced by technology, that's not how the game works.
There has to be a human element to refereeing, so I have no doubt about the future of referees. Football is a game of scale and error and refereeing is a game of scale and error. The less errors you make as a player the higher you'll go and the less errors you make as a referee the higher you go.
It's all about the interpretations of referees and assistant referees. If I make a wrong decision and someone else can tell me it's correct then I'll go with that 100% of the time.
There is nowhere to hide now because this new technology with 500 clips a second is getting used. If it corrects factual decisions then it can only be for the good.
There won't be a decrease in fan abuse of referees, we will always have to deal with it.
Fan abuse of referees won’t decrease because of the technology, that will always be there.
If a goal goes against you or a decision goes against you, fans will always find someone else to blame other than your own team. Referees always get it.
Half of polled fans have been generally in favour of VAR technology though.
Football will never rely on technology
I don't think referees are relying on technology, I think we are using technology and we are using it to make it better. Technology should be used and FIFA uses it as well for clear and obvious decisions.
If something is not clear and obvious, if the referee is the only person in that stadium that doesn't see something but everyone else does then it has to be overruled. Everything else should be open to interpretation.
It can't be 1 against 60,000. If you're the only person that's making that error then it has to be corrected, so use technology to be better for the teams and for the referees.
Robots can make decisions, referees can manage 22 people for 90 minutes
The term ‘Robot Referee’ shouldn't be used, you should have a person. The referee's job isn't just getting decisions right, It's to manage people for 90 minutes. 22 highly fit, highly volatile human beings challenging one another in a game of football.
If you put a robot in the middle of that, they would get the decisions right, but not what is kicking off around them. It is a referee's job to manage 22 people that are on that field of play. You might start with 22, it's not saying you are gonna finish with 22 but you've got to manage and have a relationship and a rapport with these people.
You might be refereeing Celtic vs Rangers this week, you might be refereeing Rangers v Dundee United three weeks later and Celtic v Aberdeen six weeks later. You're going to come across the same people.
Refereeing is like being a manager in an office and managing the staff and having a rapport with your staff. Those players on the pitch will then know you as a person to an extent and understand what you are willing to put up with and what you deem as acceptable.
All in all, I don't think there should be this term ‘robot referee’. Refereeing is a human personality and you're there to manage the people and manage the game.
English leagues will only experience SAOT, the rest have a long time to wait
New technology will come in at the top level of FIFA competitions and UEFA competitions. Possibly the English Premier league. It will certainly not be in Scotland for a while. Bearing in mind it has taken the Scotlands lowest leagues, four years to get VAR.
The Automated offside technology would need to be trialled vigourously. Everyone would need to be confident with it and comfortable with it. It will be a trial and error process.
As a referee, I can imagine there will be a high percentage of correct decisions made by SAOT
The experts that produce the technology are very very clever and very good in what they do so I can imagine there is a high percentage of them making the correct decisions but it is something that needs to be thoroughly tested.
Celtic and Rangers are set to be impacted more by automated offside technology
Celtic and Rangers will be impacted more by the decisions that are made correctly or wrongly.
Celtic and Rangers are predominately the attacking team in games and are in the opposition's penalty box most of the time. Therefore, there is more chance for VAR to be used for offside, penalty kicks etc. Whether it goes for or against them.
Des Roache is a regular on GET INVOLVED REFEREE!, the podcast presented by Lindsay Herron alongside former top referees Roache, Steve Conroy and current amateur referee Dougie Gunning. They tackle their way through Scottish Football’s whistle-blowing antics and they will not be swayed or distracted by any hot-headed chief executives or fans! https://linktr.ee/getinvolvedreferee
