LAST night’s explosive A-League grand final descended into chaos as a “disgraceful” kick from Newcastle Jets star Roy O’Donovan floored opposition goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t the most shocking error seen on the field at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Newcastle fans, who flocked in the thousands to see their team play in the first regionally-hosted grand final, were slapped with a wet fish after a technical failure allowed Melbourne the only goal of the match.
Victory star Kosta Barbarouses slotted in a goal after a free kick soared over the heads of Newcastle defenders. Fans were quick to point out the referee’s obvious blunder in failing to bring up James Donachie — who passed the ball back to Barbarouses before he scored the goal — as off-side.
Barely 12 hours after Melbourne raised the cup, the competition was out apologising to Newcastle fans for the monumental slip-up.
Football Federation of Australia’s Head of A-League Greg O’Rourke said a failure by technology used by the VAR (video assistant referee) meant they were unable to make a call on the goal.
“We are extremely disappointed at this failure of the VAR technology,” O’Rourke said, “And we understand the disappointment and frustration of the Newcastle Jets, their fans and indeed all football fans.
“VAR was introduced here and in other parts of the world as a technology based solution to correct the human errors that inevitably are made from time to time when officials are making judgments in split seconds.”
O’Rourke admitted the cameras available weren’t able to pick up the angle required to deem the call off-side.
“On this occasion the technology itself failed and the broadcast angles required were unavailable. We are working with Hawkeye to thoroughly understand why it did and what can be done to prevent this happening again.”
Australian media personality Waleed Aly said the VAR had been a “disaster” in the A-League all season.
“I am an opponent of technological intervention in sport,” Aly said on ABC’s Offsiders. “I think it sells a false hope of perfection it can never attain. It doesn’t ever remove human error and when it is used well it usually causes intolerable delays in the game, so the end product you’re chasing ends up being a mirage.
“I just don’t think it’s very good. I can’t stand the whole intervention — I think it’s been a bit of a disaster.”
Understandably, fans were livid at the outcome which marred the close of the A-League’s 13th season.
Former Socceroo John Kosmina weighed in on the scandal that has become the main talking point out of the game.
“It’s a pity that we’re talking about technology failing again, well not the technology but the people who are using the technology failing again,” Kosmina said on Sky News.
“There was such a fantastic game of football that we should be discussing, but technology is only as good as the people who operate it or as compotent as the people who operate it so obviously the guy who was on the VAR last night was incompetent and it’s a pity that the goal stood.
“Let’s get it fixed up or maybe get rid of it for next season.”
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Football Federation Australia (FFA) has conducted a review into the goal decision by the VAR during last night’s Hyundai A-League 2018 Grand Final between the Newcastle Jets and Melbourne Victory.
It has found that a technical failure in the VAR system meant that the Video Assistant Referee did not have access to the camera views which would have enabled him to make an off-side ruling in the 9th minute goal scored for Melbourne Victory by Kosta Barbarouses.
FFA’s Head of Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, Greg O’Rourke, said that according to the technology partner Hawkeye, the capture software that uploads the broadcast feed into the VAR system was partially lost 30 seconds before Victory’s goal due to a malfunction of software.
It was not until some minutes after the goal that this was restored, too late to change the decision on the goal as the game had restarted.
Under VAR regulations, where there is no clear evidence to the contrary, the on field decision — in this case allowing the goal — stands.
The camera feed to broadcaster’s FOX SPORTS, which is routed separately, was not affected.
“We are extremely disappointed at this failure of the VAR technology,” O’Rourke said, “And we understand the disappointment and frustration of the Newcastle Jets, their fans and indeed all football fans.
“VAR was introduced here and in other parts of the world as a technology based solution to correct the human errors that inevitably are made from time to time when officials are making judgments in split seconds.
“On this occasion the technology itself failed and the broadcast angles required were unavailable. We are working with Hawkeye to thoroughly understand why it did and what can be done to prevent this happening again.
“While we understand that this happened only once this season it was at a most critical time. All parties desire the technology to be failure proof and that is what we will be striving for.”
“This is important not just for the Hyundai A-League but for other leagues around the world and for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at which VAR will be used for the first time,” concluded O’Rourke.”
