29 Oct Has the VAR masked the inadequacies of A-League referees?

Former Socceroos goalkeeper Clint Bolton says the VAR will never be implemented properly unless the standard of refereeing improves in the A-League.

Saturday night’s Sydney derby descended into farce when the Western Sydney Wanderers were denied a goal in dubious circumstances after a host of contentious VAR decisions in Round 1.

“It was brought in largely to support referees, but if anything, it’s just masked the inadequacies of refereeing standards,” Bolton told SEN Afternoons.

“The attention now is being turned more towards the referees and refereeing standards, along with that, we still have this VAR issue.

“If the standards of refereeing aren’t good enough to implement it properly, what we do with the VAR from here on out is largely inconsequential unless we fix the root of the problem.

“The attention should be drawn towards the referees and improving the standard of refereeing – something that should have been done years ago.”

The FFA are set to make changes to the way the VAR is used in the A-League after widespread criticism of the video technology from the football fraternity.

Listen to Clint Bolton’s chat on SEN Afternoons with Brett Phillips in the player below