KUALA LUMPUR – Is Malaysian football ready for the implementation of video assistant referee (VAR) technology?
Recently, controversial refereeing decisions in the Super League has raised questions on whether VAR should be brought to Malaysian shores.
Speaking to The Vibes on the matter, an insider from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said that implementing VAR in the M-League is not so simple.
“All I can tell is that it will not be a walk in the park.
“It all boils down to the funding of the technology. First, it needs to be purchased, which would be about RM25 million per season. Then, there is an operating cost where every club would need to fork out about RM500,000 per season.”
For example, the Scottish Professional Football League has been looking into VAR and said it would cost each club £120,000 (RM633,567) per season, and cost the entire league an estimated £12 million (RM65 million) each season.
“Do the clubs have the resources and capacity to install the technology in their respective stadiums?
“Is the Malaysian Football League ready? Are the clubs ready? I do not think so. Besides the Bukit Jalil National Stadium and the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Johor, other stadiums definitely need to be upgraded before implementing VAR.
“Conditions of some stadiums in the country are awful. If basic stadium facilities are not maintained well, how are we to expect to maintain the VAR equipment each season?
“There would also be a need for at least another four additional referees per match for VAR as it still needs people to review the decisions,” the source added.
Meanwhile, the source said that complaints directed towards match officials are all made from the losing side.
“When they lose, there will be so much noise but if they win the match, it is pin-drop silence.
“Why can’t the team management tell their players to play better football instead of complaining about the referees? You cannot ban the referee just because your team lost the match.
“The referee’s decision is final. If we choose to remove all referees, then we would not have anyone to manage the VAR system that everyone wants so badly.
“No matter what technology is introduced, there will be some parties that say it is being manipulated. People will always chirp without proper football knowledge,” said the source. – The Vibes, September 13, 2022
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