Another VAR disaster

Frightening! The players should be protected

Kick-off - a column by former Bundesliga referee Rene Eisner.

(Bild: stock.adobe, Krone KREATIV)

There was plenty to discuss again in the last Bundesliga round. A clear case for "Steirerkrone" referee expert Rene Eisner, who took a closer look at the match between Salzburg and Hartberg (5:1). And came to the conclusion: "It's frightening how often you get it wrong at the moment..."

It has to be said in no uncertain terms: It's frightening how incidents related to the VAR are currently piling up in the Bundesliga. Most recently, Hartberg was hit again. In my opinion, the video referee should not have intervened in the exclusion against defender Bowat in the duel with Salzburg's Fernando. Too many parameters speak against it: Fernando was not in possession of the ball, both players were tussling, you couldn't speak of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. In the first reaction, referee Harald Lechner showed a yellow card - the VAR should not have overruled!

Fernando shouldn't have been on the pitch at all! Against Hartberg's Heil, the striker wants to shoot in an action in the opening phase, but his foot remains outstretched, he sees his opponent, does not pull back - and hits him! The result shows that Heil was clearly in danger! In an interview, referee boss Viktor Kassai spoke about the need to protect the players' health. So what happened here, please?

Referee boss Viktor Kassai

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Specialists are needed
How could the problem be solved? By forming groups and only assigning certain people as VARs - and then giving them special training! That's how it works in other countries. In my day, if you had a bad day as a referee and were graded accordingly, you would stand for two or three weeks. Now you're a referee one day and two days later you're back as a VAR. Even if you've made mistakes on the pitch! You take the uncertainty straight into the chamber.