Video ref to be trialed...

They show the process here.

 

On reflection, possibly the right decision. but I do worry that now every time a goal is scored the defending team will be in the ref ear asking for VAR because of a minor pull about 5 minutes ago.

 

Yep. 'Correct decision' is not an objective thing. If every goal is disallowed for some petty little thing then I don't think that's what I'd call correct because it ruins the game. All VAR seems to be doing at the moment is finding infringements that no one saw or appealed for in real time, as an excuse to disallow goals. Football is a game ffs. It's already one of the lowest-scoring sports. Do we really want to be making it any harder to score valid goals?

 

A really nice story of a young boy in Liberia who's idol is Howard Webb, and aspires to be a profession ref one day.

http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-43241996

The Liberian teenager whose hero is... Howard Webb

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Isaac Gborlee is a 14-year-old Liberian whose hero - of all people - is the former British football referee, Howard Webb. Adrian Chiles tells the story of how a boy from a poor one-parent family ended up refereeing matches with a yellow card his idol used in the World Cup final.

I often fall into despair about football, invariably when my team is going through one of its many bad patches. At these times all the depressing things about the global game float to the surface of my thinking: the money, the corruption, the World Cups held in the wrong places, the same old clubs winning the same old trophies. You know the kind of thing.

Feeling very much like this recently I texted an old friend of mine, with whom I shared much football back in the last century at university together. Ged's a big Newcastle fan from Consett, County Durham, who is now an aid worker in West Africa.

"Do you still like football?" I wrote. "I don't."

He replied at once: "I love it. Despite everything. On one hand, even in Liberia I get Johnny-come-lately Chelsea fans taking the mickey out of me. On the other hand, I met a 14-year-old kid who wants to be Howard Webb, so that balances things up."

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Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Howard Webb shows a yellow card to Van Bronckhorst in the 2010 World Cup Final

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I asked for more information and Ged told me that he had met Isaac in the town of Gbarnga, four hours' drive north of the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

The charity Ged works for, Mary's Meals, provides school meals to children in poor communities and Isaac is one of those who benefit. As they chatted in Isaac's home, Isaac told him about a football coach called Timothy "Gapsi" Kromah, who has had a huge effect on his life.

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Image caption Football coach Timothy "Gapsi" Kromah has taken Isaac Gborlee under his wing
Isaac was nine years old when Gapsi came across him sitting on the grass watching some footballers preparing for a training match. And when Gapsi blew his whistle for the game to start, he saw Isaac jump up, attach some plastic to a stick, and start holding it like a linesman.

"Every time the ball go out, he would put the plastic up," says Gapsi, who started reacting to Isaac's signals.

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This, in Gapsi's words, is what happened next:

I decided to follow him, and would blow. Any foul he would put the flag up, and I would blow. After the practice, I called him. I said, 'What's your name?'

He said, 'My name is Isaac'.

So I said, 'Where do you live?'

He showed the area he lives. So then I asked him, 'Where's your father?' As soon as I said this he began to cry.

He was like an abandoned child in the community because his father died and his mother was disabled. She can't walk for even five minutes, when she goes out.

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Image caption Isaac with his mum
I told him to come for practice the next day. He came. So I called the children on the practice ground. I told them, 'This man you see, he will be your head from today. Anybody disrespect him, you disrespect me. So everything he tells you to do, do it, or you will not play on the team,'" says Gapsi.

Over time, Isaac came to be known as Isaac Popo because of the sound his whistle makes. And Gapsi saw him improve to such an extent that he decided to try him out refereeing adult football.

I took him one morning to the old-timers, practising one Sunday. I told these guys, 'Let the little kid ref our practice.'

You know, they got vexed, so they say, 'Why, Gapsi? Don't play fun out of us. A small little boy like this, what does he know about reffing?'

I said, 'I beg you guys, just give him 10 minutes, please.' So they said, 'All right, no problem.'"

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Gapsi was delighted to see his protégé pass the test.

After 10 minutes, just to observe these guys, to see whether they enjoy Isaac, I said, 'Cut the practice off and give the whistle to the next guy.'

The guys got angry. They said No, I should not do it. They saw that the little kid was good. So we started entrusting him with some games. Big, big games. He reffed the biggest high school game, which is Gboveh and St Martin's.

You know the only reason why he's he's not reffing far is because of his age. According to the football association, you've got to reach 18 before you can do this. We tried going and registering him to the Liberia Football Association, but no help.

If he has the support, I see him go far, like Howard Webb, the great Howard Webb of England. I see him maybe exceeding Howard Webb, because that's his role model. He said he wants to be like Howard Webb, or even more than Howard Webb.

Now I've never met Howard Webb but I did have a number for him so I dropped him a text.

You had to go a long way to find a fan of mine
Howard Webb, Football referee
"You had to go a long way to find a fan of mine," he replied.

Then Ged and I sent Howard Isaac's story and some photos.

"This is an amazing story and I was pretty moved," he wrote back. "I spent a few weeks in Nigeria working for Fifa in 2009 and I know about the obsession with Premier League football in West Africa, but it's unbelievable that somebody like Isaac has even heard of me, never mind holding me as his role model."

Howard works in the US now, but when he was home for Christmas he sent Ged a package for Isaac. In it was one of Howard's Fifa kits, a copy of his book, and a note wishing Isaac all the best for his refereeing career.

He also sent the actual yellow card he used in the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, between the Netherlands and Spain.

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Image caption Isaac Gborlee marches out to referee a game, wearing Howard Webb's shirt
Ged's just made the journey to Gbarnga to give it all to Isaac. Half the town seemed to be there for the presentation. It's fair to say Isaac is extremely happy.

"I prayed by Almighty God today, when I received these gifts, that I will be standing with Howard Webb one day and that we two can interact," he said. "I will tell him thank you for his gifts, and I would like to take some advice from him for the rules of the game."

The next job of course, is to get Howard out there. Leave that one with me. But in the meantime Isaac "Popo" Gborlee is to be found in Liberia refereeing football matches. The five dollars he earns every game helps to support his family. He wears a Fifa kit several sizes too big for him, and books players with the very yellow card his hero used 14 times in a World Cup Final.

Football, honestly, what's not to love?

 

Just superb

 

Bloody superb stuff.

 

Almost certain to be used at the world cup, some meeting by some authority has given the green light today?

 

Bit early to say that
They vote on it in a few weeks

 

Good
Sensible decision

 

it was an Allam style voting system, only those against were given a vote - we wouldn't want the top six being disadvantaged by decisions going against them

 

Improves the game according to some.

Turning the game into a laughing stock is no improvement.

http://www.skysports.com/share/11334284

 

Glad to see they're going to take more time to refine it before implementing it. The time taken to make the decision should be smoothed out in some instances.

 

?Haha

yes they might in time manage to deal with that type of incident with less than a 6 minutes delay!!!

I hope they take time to consider it...and then bin the whole idea

 

We got goal-line technology (big tick) - we need 'Monday morning' punishment for diving/feigning injury ...... game sorted, shove your VAR up your arse.

I thank you!

 

Yep, lack of technology isn't the issue (and VAR isn't even technology anyway) the issue is that with or without VAR, diving is promoted, staying on your feet is punished, and refs choose to deal with certain incidents differently because of when they happen, who is involved and whether they might already be on a card or not.

 

VAR is fine for some sports but not football imo.