Alessandro Nunes, director of football for Corinthians, led a group of staff from the team in an attempt to force their way into the video assistant referee (VAR) room at halftime of Sunday’s match against Gremio. The incident represents an unnecessary climax to a plotline that’s been simmering for months.
The two teams aren’t very close to each other on the table. Corinthians is in 11th place in Brazil’s Serie A, while Luis Suarez-led Gremio are only three points behind leaders Palmeiras with only a few weeks left in the season.
Ironically, Corinthians actually won the game 1-0, and were winning by that scoreline when the game entered halftime. But that somehow wasn’t enough to save the VAR room from an ambush.
The motivation for the strong confrontation was an incident that happened 25 minutes before Angel Romero’s game winning goal. Only a few minutes into the match Corinthians defender Bruno Mendez was given a red card, after VAR review, for a dangerous tackle. Of the recent VAR decisions to be spotlighted, this one seems like the most reasonable call after seeing the play, making the halftime siege even more confusing.
Tensions between clubs and referees are higher than average, with some of the stronger discourses surrounding the Premier League and UEFA Champions League. Several high profile coaches, players, analysts, and even clubs themselves have come out against recent referee decision making based on VAR usage.
These examples aren’t to be taken lightly, and there’s plenty of validity in the perspective that at the very least VAR is being misused. A program that has apparently “10 years” until it’s perfected being relied on in increasingly important moments of the game presents – at the very least – an issue to be addressed.
So far the addressing of these incidents have more taken the form of defense than anything. And again, there are situations where defenses would seem plausible, but the defense chosen doesn’t help the referee’s case.
For example, just yesterday the PGMOL released the audio of the discussion surrounding Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay’s eventually disallowed goal against Fulham earlier this month.
The part that sparked controversy upon the release was right at the end when the referral to center referee John Brooks from the VAR referee included the phrase “subjective offside.” The claim was that MUFC defender Harry Maguire challenged for the ball and did so from a slightly offside position.
I believe these both to be errors in judgment, and made it hard for the general consensus to agree. There are plenty of aspects of the game of soccer and it’s rules that can be considered subjective. The decision making process for calling fouls and giving cards of either color more often than not comes from a subjective analysis of the momentum and narrative of the game as a whole and of each play individually. This subjectivity is much easier to argue and often calls for more discussion to find an amicable verdict.
Offsides is an infrastructural aspect of the game of soccer. There is an expectation of objectivity to determine who can and can’t engage in the play, especially in a game as fluid and dynamic as soccer. A clear and consistent definition is required to uphold the foundational structure of the game that billions around the world trust. Shaking that foundation by introducing subjectivity threatens that trust, and referees are taking the hit.
This being said, Maguire was in an objectively offside position. Committing to that point off the get go would already help the ref’s case. I would have called for an offside, but not for the reason given.
Saying Maguire challenged for the ball is a stretch. He flails a leg, but it’s a half hearted attempt, especially from an oncoming player who got an illegal headstart. Likewise, attributing the foul to simply distracting the defender poses a weaker argument for why it would be called, as this reasoning is usually only applied to goalkeepers on deflected shots.
What’s more apparent is that he was looking to draw a foul and earn a penalty on the play, shown in the way he went down after the contact. The successful attempt to draw contact from the offside position directly restricts the defender from reaching the ball that’s been crossed in, allowing the player directly behind him to make the pass that leads to the goal.
This line of reasoning would have been more than acceptable and yesterday’s release would have gone with the wind. Instead, the debate kicked off again, with Michael Owen taking to Twitter to give his thoughts.
There are obvious mistakes happening, and the use of VAR is still far too inconsistent to have such a major influence in these high stakes moments. But this does not excuse the actions by the Corinthians staff, and there’s no worse way to approach these high tempered situations.
On one hand, it really can be as easy as saying it’s just a game. That’s undoubtedly what anyone who isn’t all that invested in the game would say if they got this far into this story. But on the other hand, for those who are deeply passionate about soccer, it’s nearly impossible to separate those deep emotions from the game.
The intertwining of the two is not for any reason of misprioritization, though that exists in fringe cases. The sport serves as one of the few conduits of the full range of emotions that any demographic can experience to its fullest with no real repercussions. We know it’s just a game, but it allows us to feel everything we felt as the kids who fell in love with the game, and thats reason enough to attach some sanctity to the relationship we hold with it.
That all goes away in situations like this. This isn’t passion getting the better of a few deeply invested fans. This is unnecessary violence being spurred on by disproportionately affected parties. An admin and a few other office staff and coaches will be fine to just go home after this, knowing their place of work is a secure and relatively peaceful office space. These referees will be thinking about this every time they are assigned a job, if they even decide to stay. Violence like this can only make the tightrope referees already struggle to balance on even thinner, and situations like these leave us with no way forward.
