Are we the only country to use C&O as a thing? It really needs fucking off.
The whole idea is ridiculous. It comes from people not wanting the game to be re-referee’d but the VAR is just another assistant for the ref with more info. VAR making a call is just like the linesman putting up their flag, or the fourth official letting the ref know about an incident they’ve missed. They should just work as a team, and come to the right decision with all the information at their disposal.
Also, the VAR should be able to be used on all decisions, but it doesn’t need to be the whole big ceremony that’s around it now, they can just say, “That corner should be a goal kick.” And the ref can correct their call, before the set piece is taken. It takes seconds to check these things, shorter than set pieces generally take.
It comes down to the referees not sharing the same opinion on decisions, when they should be able to trust that their colleague on the VAR is making the decision they would with the same information. If there’s that distrust and difference, then something in the system is wrong.
Either the ref should simply be able to hold the play when the VAR suspect a decision is wrong, or we should do away with it and just put up with on the field decisions, because having someone with multiple angles and plenty of time make bad decisions due to a not clear and obvious defence is maddening. If we do the latter then we can just wait until technology improves to give clear decisions in aspects, like goal-line technology and the developing automated offside that could come in at some point.
Rewriting the rules for the new age to add clarity seems the place to start, beginning with what constitutes handball, what frame should be used for offsides and what level of force/intent is necessary for a foul? Something as simple as saying, only deliberate handballs are to be given as fouls when below the shoulder, whereas all handballs above the shoulder are a foul, with pictures/videos of the handballs deemed to be deliberate, below the shoulder, and a clear line drawn to show what constitutes above the shoulder. The whole, natural body shape line is just more subjective wording that is unnecessary.