Peter Schmeichel opposes introduction of video assistant referees in football – Exclusive
June 13, 2017
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has told iSportconnect at SportAccord Convention in Aarhus, Denmark, that he opposes the idea of introducing video technology to football, saying it would make the game “too clinical”.
Schmeichel, who was part of United’s treble-winning side of 1999, argued that the sport would lose out if it became a stop-start game.
Recent years have seen a sea-change in the attitude towards technology. Goal-line technology is now a permanent feature of top-level FIFA and UEFA competitions and several domestic leagues in Europe.
The International Football Association Board [IFAB], the law-makers of the game, approved a two-year period of video assistant referee testing from March 2016 which a number of federations signed up to – including France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Mexico.
The FA are due to trial VAR in the FA Cup from next season. But Schmeichel, who retired in 2003, believes that VAR would be a step too far.
“I’d hate football to be going in a direction where it has to be stopped for someone to review the situation on video,” he said.
“Football is not a stop-start game in that respect. You will have referee mistakes, you will have bad tackles but if you take all that out you make the game, for me, a little bit too clinical and basically you leave nothing to talk about.”
You can hear the Dane’s full views on video technology by watching our exclusive interview:
By Christian Radnedge
