Football Federation Australia (FFA) release a statement admitting to a grave technical failure involving the controversial Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in an A-League grand final. The technology will be used in the upcoming World Cup.
The FFA, following an investigation, found that, according to the technology partner Hawkeye, the capture software that uploads the broadcast feed into the VAR system was partially lost 30 seconds before Victory’s goal due to a malfunction of software.
“VAR was introduced here and in other parts of the world as a technology-based solution to correct the human errors that inevitably are made from time to time when officials are making judgments in split seconds,” Greg O’Rourke, the head of Australia's Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, said.
The VAR technology failed to recognize and penalize a “winning” offside goal by Melbourne Victory soccer outfit, during the A-League grand final – the season's final fixture which determines the Champion of the tournament. Victory's Kosta Barbarouses scored the 9-minute winner, which was built from an offside position.
“On this occasion, the technology itself failed and the broadcast angles required were unavailable. We are working with Hawkeye to thoroughly understand why it did and what can be done to prevent this happening again,” O’Rourke said.
“This is important not just for the Hyundai A-League but for other leagues around the world and for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at which VAR will be used for the first time.”
The Victory defeated the Newcastle Jets as a result of the error.
“We are extremely disappointed at this failure of the VAR technology,” O’Rourke further stated. “And we understand the disappointment and frustration of the Newcastle Jets, their fans and indeed all football fans. Whilst we understand that this happened only once this season it was at a most critical time. All parties desire the technology to be failure proof and that is what we will be striving for.”
Last month, the International Football Association Board decided that VAR technology will feature prominently in all the FIFA World Cup fixtures in Russia.
According to FIFA, the VAR team has access to 33 broadcast cameras, eight of which are super slow-motion and four of which are ultra slow-motion cameras. In addition, they are two offside cameras and two additional ultra slow-motion cameras will be installed, one behind each goal, for the knockout stage.