Former Premier League referee, Keith Hackett has agreed with Harry Kane’s call for a change in the way that VAR judges offside calls.
The implementation of VAR has been the source of much frustration for the players and fans over the last two seasons.
One of the most controversial uses of the technology has to do with the assessment of offside calls, with forwards regularly being penalised for one of their body parts being just a few millimetres ahead of the defender.
In his interview with Gary Neville last week, Kane expressed his frustration with the way VAR judges offside calls, with the Tottenham forward insisting that the advantage should be given to the forwards in the case of close calls.
Hackett has now said that there needs to be a change due to the number of goals being chopped off and backed FIFA chief Arsene Wenger to modify the way the technology is being used to judge offsides.
When asked about Kane’s comments, the ex-referee told Football Insider: “I agree with his sentiments.
“At the moment, the offside law requires a change. The law itself has become a defender and we’re getting more goals ruled out because of nonsense like a toe being offside.
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“For me, there has to be a fundamental change to the offside law. When the Premier League first came in this is what we practised, the benefit of any doubt must go to the forward.
“What we’ve got now is, any doubt, because of the structure of VAR and how it’s operated, it is now a defender. It’s out of balance.
“FIFA are likely to introduce a change at the World Cup. I think that change will be on technology first. It will give a more accurate reading of the position of an attacker or defender.
“That is very much in the hands of Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development. He favours what Harry Kane’s saying. He’s saying that if the majority of the body of a forward player is offside, then we’ll rule it offside.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The most frustrating thing about the way the offside calls are currently judged is the fact that the technology is not good enough to be making those close calls.
Given the frame rates of the cameras used, the attacker’s position changes significantly depending on which frame is used.
The most logical solution would be to include a margin of error (by making the lines thicker) and only give a player offside when there is daylight between the two lines.
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