New major VAR change introduced this weekend ends in total farce – FA Cup clashes beware | OneFootball

Over nine months ago it was reported that finally VAR in the Premier League would be using semi-automated offsides, which have been widely used elsewhere for some years.

It had long ago been universally accepted (outside of Premier League HQ anyway!) that by using the semi-automated offsides, it significantly helps swift correct decisions being made, plus at least just as importantly, delivers a far better experience for football fans.

An official Premier League statement then confirmed that the semi-automated offsides would be used as from sometime in Autumn 2024. Well that didn’t happen!

A total joke, as the semi-automated offsides have been widely used elsewhere for years, including at the 2022 World Cup finals and at the 2024 Euros finals, so why didn’t the Premier League just use the same system???

With delay after delay on the introduction of semi-automated offsides, the Premier League having to admit that the preferred system they wanted to bring in, running into what appeared to  be endless problems delaying its introduction.

Finally though, Martyn Ziegler of The Times revealed earlier this month that at long last, the semi-automated offsides would at last be used in English football.

With this weekend’s FA Cup fifth round matches the first to see the new system in use.

However, the fourth of the eight FA Cup round games saw total farce, lasting over eight minutes, before a goal was disallowed for one of these ridiculously small margins for offside. Even if it could be properly shown for sure that a player was offside by inches, pretty much all football fans agree that a goal should be given in these circumstances. Offside wasn’t brought in all those years ago to be measured to such a stupidly minute degree and leading to delays beyond a joke.

The man from The Times, Martyn Ziegler, explaining the 8+ minute farce at Bournemouth v Wolves on Saturday – 1 March 2025:

Bournemouth deservedly reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for only the second time since 1957 but they needed penalties to see off Wolves, after an eventful encounter that also featured one of the longest VAR interventions in English football history.

The delay lasted for eight minutes and 11 seconds during the first half, leaving fans of both teams singing “it’s not football any more” — and this on a weekend where semi-automated offsides, designed to speed up VAR interventions, were introduced for the first time.

Bournemouth were leading 1-0 when a corner by David Brooks on 35 minutes was bundled into the net by a combination of Kerkez and Dean Huijsen. Initially the VAR checked for handball, but after that was cleared, they checked for offside. The new system, however, did not work. Per the FA, this was due to the bodies in the way of its camera systems. Instead, the VAR officials had to manually draw the lines themselves.

As the break in play became increasingly farcical, the referee, Sam Barrott, spoke to the managers to explain the situation, while supporters were left in the dark. Ultimately the officials deemed Huijsen’s foot to be offside, but the length of the delay drew ire from the stands. The final decision benefited Wolves but their supporters did not celebrate and joined in a furious chorus of “this is embarrassing”.’

Martyn Ziegler via Twitter – 13 February 2025:

“English football to introduce semi-automated offsides at last – in FA Cup fifth round initially and “later this season” in the Premier League.

“There will also be in-stadium VAR announcements in the FA Cup matches.”

Martyn Ziegler report for The Times – 19 November 2024:

‘Premier League clubs fear that semi-automated offside technology may not be introduced into the top flight this season as testing on its selected system continues.

It is two years since Fifa used such a system — which employs extra cameras and artificial intelligence to judge when players are offside — at the World Cup and it has since been adopted by Uefa in the Champions League and European domestic leagues.

It was originally due to be introduced into the Premier League this autumn to replace the Hawk-Eye system, where lines are drawn manually on a screen by a VAR technician and can lead to lengthy delays of two minutes or more.

However, clubs were told that failures in the system being 100 per cent accurate has delayed it at least until next year, and some club figures believe that there is a strong chance of it not coming in at all this season.

The delay is understood to be down to occasional “black spots” being identified in testing where lots of bodies are around the ball. Clubs are expected to be given an update on the results at a meeting on Friday.

Part of the delay may be that the Premier League has chosen to use a different system to the one employed by Fifa, Uefa and other leagues.

It has agreed a deal with Second Spectrum, an American software company which is part of Genius Sports, to provide the technology for a “mesh” system. The technology is said to use “force fields” to identify when attackers are ahead of defenders.

The league hopes it will cut delays in offside decisions by an average of 31 seconds.’

Premier League official statement – 14 August 2024:

‘When it will be introduced?

Semi-automated offside technology won’t be ready for the start of the season on 16 August, but is expected to be ready to be used from after one of the autumn international breaks.’

Absolutely ridiculous that the Premier League didn’t even have it ready to go for the start of this season, especially after all of these years of similar systems used successfully in other league and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar etc etc.

Things have now got even more embarrassing.

Following the regular meeting of all 20 Premier League clubs on Thursday to discuss various issues, vote on certain matters. It has now been widely reported that VAR using semi-automated offsides is to be further delayed, with sometime in 2025 now said to be the earliest they will be used in the Premier League.

The irony… as always, having to wait so long for a VAR decision due to an unnecessary delay!

The Mag report – 20 June 2024:

This perfectly sums up the incompetence of the Premier League with VAR.

Just as we all saw at the World Cup in Qatar a year and a half ago, using semi-automated offsides is a no-brainer.

Sadly, when it comes to the Premier League and how they go about things, there is clearly no such thing as a no-brainer…

At these 2024 European Championships we are seeing match after match why semi-automated offsides should have been utilised from the start in the Premier League.

Instead, years later we still don’t have them, the Premier League choosing to have somebody drawing dodgy lines in a prefab and then getting out the magnifying glass. All the time, effort and money to put in place cutting edge technology, then this is how the Premier League choose to implement it!!!

As I say, watching all these Euro matches, instead of having some clown taking forever drawing dodgy lines and using a magnifying glass, the semi-automated offsides give an almost instant decision, the game swiftly restarts and I have seen few, if any, complaints/challenges to countless offside decisions made at this tournament using the semi-automated system.

The good news is that the Premier League ARE finally after all these years, accepting (see below) that semi-automated offsides have to be used.

The bad news is, this won’t happen until well into the 2024/25 Premier League season…

This is totally unacceptable, why does everything take so long for the Premier League to put right? If it ever does…

Why can’t they just bring/buy in the semi-automated offside system that is being used in these 2024 Euros for the start of the new season?

My earlier report on The Mag – 30 May 2024:

An interesting update on the Premier League and VAR offside checks.

Martyn Ziegler is Chief Sports Writer at The Times and he has the inside track on what is set to happen later this year.

Newcastle United fans and those of the other Premier League clubs, have become increasingly frustrated in particular, with the delays when it comes to calls on offside.

Not only the often ridiculous length of the delay in coming to a decision BUT also the actual decisions themselves, where to the naked eye it is so difficult, often impossible, to see whether the attacking player was offside or not.

What we know for sure, is that when we were told all of the reasons why VAR was needed, it certainly wasn’t because any players were scoring goals that were possibly millimetres ‘offside’ and yet stood.

Anyway, the main man at The Times has been explaining how things are to get speeded up, as well as becoming more accurate and used credibly.

With the new system set to be operating late in 2024.

Martyn Ziegler writing for The Times – 29 May 2024:

‘The semi-automated offside system to be used by the Premier League next season will harness artificial intelligence and “force fields” to identify when attackers are ahead of defenders.

The Times has learnt that the Premier League has agreed a deal with Second Spectrum, an American software company that is part of Genius Sports, to provide the technology for the system.

It is due to start being used in the Premier League after one of the autumn international breaks — and officials hope it will cut delays in offside decisions by an average of 31 seconds.

Instead of limb-tracking, which follows up to 36 points on the body, Second Spectrum’s Dragon system captures 10,000 “surface mesh data points” per player, over 200 times per second, and should be far more accurate in determining offsides.

The semi-automated system, which has been approved by Fifa, will replace the Hawk-Eye system, where lines are drawn manually on a screen by a VAR technician and can lead to delays of two minutes or more.

Instead, the Second Spectrum system will automatically detect when attackers are offside when the ball is kicked, with AI used to provide the lines within seconds. An image is provided to the VAR, who will judge if the attacker is interfering with play or not.

A source with knowledge of the system said the “mesh” data would effectively create an invisible “force field” which, when it is pierced by part of an attacker’s body that can score a goal — ie not their arms or hands — triggers an offside message.

3D graphics will also be made available to broadcasters and for display on big screens in stadiums to show if players were offside or not when a goal is scored.

The system is still being tested after concerns that there were occasional “black spots” where it was not 100 per cent effective, according to club sources.

The Dragon technology is already the Premier League’s official tracking data and analytics partner but has not yet been used for offsides. It is also used in basketball’s NBA competition in the United States.

The Premier League clubs agreed in April to semi-automated offsides being introduced — Uefa used its own system in the Champions League last season. Hawk-Eye will continue to provide other VAR technology.’