One of the first things Carlos Velasco Carballo said when taking the microphone to take stock of the refereeing course was that it has been " a difficult season , with more media noise than desired and one that is good for competition." And then he drew attention to the fact that the group he chairs has suffered "a climate of tension and criticism far above what the reality of each day justifies, a really difficult climate" for them.

And it is that, with the season already finished (at least in First), the president of the Technical Referees Committee has wanted to raise his voice to demand greater respect for them from football. Among other things because, he argues, "in 2020 there are fewer refereeing errors than ever in the history of soccer in our country" and he understands that this reality is not reflected in the evaluations made of his work. Both by leaders, technicians, footballers, spectators, the media ...: "We know where our mistakes are. But where are our successes? At what press conference, press release or newspaper cover? That is our fight , value our successes ".

Putting their own data on the table , the balance shown by the CTA is that in the 2019/20 season the VAR has intervened in 156 decisions in the total of 380 First Division games, once every 2.44 games, increasing the interventionism of the previous campaign (once every 3.14) and with an average revision margin of 101 seconds, nine less than in the previous year. Of these, 65 were interventions related to goals , 58 to penalties, 21 to red cards and seven to identity confusion in warnings. Only in nine of them, the field referee decided to stay on his initial decision after being warned by the VAR, and in five he "improved" his decision. For example: there is a penalty but it is not signaled because there was a previous foul that invalidated it. The summary is that, when the referee goes to the field monitor, he corrects his initial decision 94.2% of the time

The reverse of this statistic is that the referees have made 21 errors in plays in the penalty area, that is, around one failure every two days. And here come both the errors of the VAR, of not doing its job correctly, and errors of appreciation whose possible correction is not included in the protocol. That is, an error that could not be corrected, what is known as gray plays.

On 51 occasions, however, the VAR successfully intervened in area plays, according to its own balance. And on red cards, the increase is remarkable: 17 expulsions recommended from the VAR compared to seven the previous season, good news for "the eradication of serious foul play."

In total, assessing as a whole the arbitration work in sections such as goals conceded, penalties, yellow cards or simulations, the CTA reports success levels that range between 94% and 97%. And, for this reason, due to "objectively" very positive data for the Spanish arbitration, Velasco Carballo raises his voice and claims the recognition that he believes the arbitrators are not having. "The VAR has made mistakes, very few, to which we are not accustomed, but the success rate is spectacular, the VAR is extremely reliable, although not infallible," he claimed.

And continuing along this line, he has clearly pointed to " ignorance of the rules of the game " and of the "VAR protocol" itself, which, he understands, are behind those unbridled criticisms that, especially in recent days, have spread to many Spanish soccer clubs. "We lack didactics," Velasco Carballo has also acknowledged, who has asked that "extraordinary successes of the referees do not become supposed errors, scandals and headlines," as he believes this course has happened.

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