Swedish chief Mats Enquist says his country will never use VAR until it stops ruining games for fans.
The Scottish Premiership has been engulfed with controversy since the introduction of the technology last October. Managers and players have fumed at inconsistencies caused by use of the video system with Kilmarnock gaffer Derek McInnes insisting he’s “fed up” of apologies from the SFA.
The Rugby Park boss is not alone, but supporters across the country are also tired of long delays and lack of information as major calls are reviewed. Enquist, general secretary of Swedish Professional Football Leagues, feels damage to the public’s enjoyment of the game is a key factor in the country’s choice to keep it out. He said: “When we started to discuss VAR in Sweden, the FA trusted us enough to give us the job to make an inquiry with all the stakeholders and included the fans in that as well as the referees and the clubs. I think supporters had also gone to their own clubs and taken the questions to their meetings.
“Even if it is formally a decision of the FA, they will listen to us and our clubs and the clubs will listen to their fans. The day we find VAR so well broken-in that it’s just a seamless help for referees to make better decisions, I think it will be implemented also in Sweden.
"But, so long as you haven’t solved the issue on how you can implement that technology so it doesn’t affect the game for the fans, then I think there will be quite a strong opposition to it for a long time. And with some merit. It’s an important issue to put on there.
"I think it is a shame that it has been so one-eyed to only support the referees. You have to support the referees AND the fans at the same time. If I speak to the most-hardened VAR opposer and say to them: How about goalline technology? Their answer will be, yes we can have that.
“It’s a direct situation. No questions. No five-minute waits for TV screens, no ambiguity. It is in the goal or not in. Like Hawkeye in tennis. That shows that the ambition to have support for decisions for the referees is there.
"So it is not a question of opposing technology or opposing helping referees. The whole resistance to VAR is that it affects how you perceive the game too much for fans. The VAR question in Sweden is very divided. Some people really want it and some never want it and hate it. Today, it is quite a firm no from most of the clubs and the supporters.”
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