Speaking as a guest of the program ‘La Politica Nel Pallone’ Damiano Tommassi, the President of the Italian Footballers Association, discussed the recent refereeing controversies triggered by the episodes during Torino-Juventus and Roma-Genoa.
“Our position does not change. The VAR is a tool that is at the service of the referees and that has brought more benefits than controversy. The overall goal is to limit the number of glaring errors to a minimum. We have begun this journey of change, and nobody wants to go back. Indeed, we need to improve its use and I think reviewing its application would be useful. For example, referees could take more time to review complex incidents. Even just the act of the review would help reduce the controversy. I would also like to see fouls which could earn a player their second yellow card fall under the jurisdiction of the VAR.”
The former Roma player continued, discussing the specific incidents from last week: “There were missed penalties for both Belotti and Pandev. If they had been called, no one could have complained. Obviously, when people the know the VAR is available, they are more upset when a mistake is made but I think things go a lot better now that when the VAR was not available. Our referees amongst some of the very best in Europe, but that does not mean they do not make mistakes.”
