– We went together and had talks with Fifa before VAR. There were probably quite a few things they didn’t take with them, which I still think could have made the introduction of VAR easier, says Nesbø in a new episode of news’s podcast “Backroom”. In the run-up to the football World Cup in 2018, the international football association (FIFA) was at a loss. Video refereeing was to be introduced in football for the first time, and the football leaders were worried about how it would work in practice. To prevent there being too many stops in the game, they contacted a Norwegian trio who know football, research and storytelling. Fifa asked for help from Nesbø, former national team player Petter Rudi, and his brother Nils Rudi. The latter is one of the leading experts in the world on sports analysis and a professor of applied mathematics at Yale. – They want to keep the power Nesbø is best known as a writer and musician, but was a promising footballer for Molde, before a knee injury caused him to retire early. Nesbø thinks it was right to introduce VAR, but doesn’t think it’s working well right now. He points to one thing in particular that they raised with the football managers: The referee has too much power, and uses it for too long. – I think that VAR can work just like the linesman does, says Nesbø, and continues: – That the referee should decide to jump out and look at the screen and be the only one to decide what actually happened there, it takes a lot of time, and there is no reason for it. COMMITTED: Jo Nesbø has a lot on his mind when it comes to the use of VAR. Photo: Fredrik Saltbones / news He believes that it can be problematic that the judges themselves control how the video judging should work. – Now it is the referee committee in Fifa who are actually the ones who decide how VAR should work. And it is not certain that it is so lucky, because judges are no different from the rest of us. If they have first gained power, they would like to keep that power, says Nesbø. The VAR debate has been heated in Norwegian football this season. Large parts of the supporters of the Norwegian clubs have protested. It eventually went so far that a match between Rosenborg and Lillestrøm was stopped after VAR protests involving fishcakes, flares and tennis balls being thrown onto the pitch. At the end of November, the Norwegian Football Association presented its VAR report, and throughout the winter video refereeing will become a topic of contention at the annual meeting for many clubs. VAR REPORT: Raymond Johansen presented the main findings in the report, which is here handed over to football president Lise Klaveness. Photo: Thomas Fure / NTB – They said it straight to us. news’s football expert Kristoffer Løkberg reveals that he has asked the Norwegian referees exactly the same thing that Nesbø points out, namely that some of the refereeing should be done in the VAR bus. – I wondered why they can’t say that we are the ones who judge, that they judge together. I just presented a banal example. We can say that I knock down Åge (Hareide) inside the field, fist right in the face. Nevertheless, the head referee has to jump out and look at a screen, and use a minute to make the decision. Instead of just giving the red card, says Løkberg. GUEST IN THE BACK ROOM: Jo Nesbø met Kristoffer Løkberg, Andrine Hegerberg (hidden behind Hareide), Åge Hareide and Emil Gukild. Photo: Fredrik Saltbones Nesbø reveals that he brought up the topic in a meeting with football leaders before the introduction of VAR. – The Referee Committee in Fifa told us straight out that they are very concerned about protecting the authority of the head referee. If he is removed from authority, then the players stop taking the referee seriously, says Nesbø and continues: – I don’t think that is the case, they simply stick to what people see. Whether they sit in the VAR room, or whether they run around the pitch in shorts, it doesn’t matter, Nesbø believes. The VAR manager: – We are cheering for development Svein Oddvar Moen, who is responsible for VAR in the Norwegian Football Association, is grateful for the input from Jo Nesbø. – Unfortunately, the debate is such that one is for or against, and that creates no development. What Nesbø is interested in here is development – and we really support that, says Moen. LIKES THE RECORDING: Svein Oddvar Moen, VAR manager at the NFF. Photo: Fredrik Saltbones / news According to the NFF’s own statistics, the waiting time for VAR is an average of 41 seconds per match in the Eliteserien. – We can work on reducing the time spent on VAR. But we also have to look at how we can keep the ball in play more in football. On average, the ball is in play for approximately 70 minutes. The rest are throw-ins, goal kicks, substitutions, injuries and other types of things. So if we start to see development on all the time stealers, that is very positive. – Nesbø believes the referee must be given less power and that the VAR team should be allowed to decide more on their own. What do you think about it? – The VAR team can already take some decisions on their own. But what Nesbø points out is an interesting approach, and then we’ll see if that’s the way to go. As a rule, you must have a leader in a team, and in football it is the head referee. – I don’t necessarily think it’s about power, but it’s about someone being responsible for the decision. And it may well be the team, but today it is a judge who makes the decision, says Moen. Published 06.12.2024, at 09.02 Updated 06.12.2024, at 11.18
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