FRANKFURT: The prospect of video refereeing being introduced at the World Cup finals in Russia next year has been plunged into further doubt by the increasing problems with trials in the German Bundesliga writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Hellmut Krug, former international referee charged with overseeing the running of the system this season, has been sidelined amid an increasing swell of dissent among officials within both the DFB and Bundsliga as well as the clubs.

Gianni Infantino, president of world football federation FIFA, is an enthusiastic proponent of VAR at Russia 2018, but prospects are not good considering the weight of trials evidence likely to be reviewed by the law-making International Board at its annual meeting in March.

The VAR system in Germany sees officials at a centralised replay centre in Cologne in touch with referees throughout matches.

Controversy has surrounded Krug after he was accused of unduly influencing two VAR penalty decisions in Schalke’s favour in the 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg in October.

Krug, who lives close to Schalke’s Veltins Arena and could never referee their matches during his active career, has rejected those allegations. However the DFB announced on Monday that it had decided, in conjunction with the league (DFL) to remove Krug from the post.

The statement said the VAR trial is now being led by referees chief Lutz Michael Frohlich “because of the high significance for German football and the recent concerns.”

The DFB, which said Krug will retain a role within the VAR project in content analysis and professional documentation, did not address the accusation of manipulation during Schalke’s draw with Wolfsburg directly in the statement but said supervisors could no longer speak to VARs during games.

Ronny Zimmermann, a DFB vice-president for referees, said in the official statement: “We still believe in this project and all emotionalism aside we should not forget that there are successes in many fields during the testing period. Regardless, we are aware of our responsibility and the necessity to undertake this project.”

‘Clear matters’

Last January the DFL said VAR would be used only for clear matters and in four separate situations – for irregularities in the case of a goal decision, penalty box situations regarding penalty claims,  red card offences unseen by the referee, and mistaken identity over yellow or red cards.

Last Thursday, German football magazine Kicker released parts of a letter the DFB sent to clubs informing them that, from matchday five onward, VAR should intervene more often and not only in situations in which the on-field referee committed an “obvious error.”

However, Kicker reported that the letter was only sent to clubs before the 10th matchday, weeks after the initial decision to change the guidelines.

Last week Frohlich tried to clarify the changes in a second letter to the clubs after DFB president Reinhard Grindel said he had not been informed about the original letter.

In the statement released on Monday, the DFB said the changes announced in the first letter had been superseded and instead “the letter drafted by Lutz Frohlich on Nov. 3 which in principal says the video assistant only intervenes “if there is a mistake in perception in decisive scenes.”

Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl  told Kicker: “The DFB’s communication in that matter is a catastrophe. If you are in a trial period and you need to make adjustments then there might be an argument for that, but you should be kept informed.”

Club coach Dieter Hecking said, after his side’s 1-1 draw at Mainz this past weekend – a result affected by controversial VAR decisions – he believed the trial period could be scrapped mid-season.

Stuttgart sports director Stefan Reuter said: “We need to get together and talk about how the VAR should be used, I am still an advocate of the system but as it is being applied I do not like it at all.”

In a column in Kicker the former World Cup referee Bernd Heynemann said: “Referees are only puppets on a string now. The decisions are made in a dark room in Cologne – and that’s just not possible.”

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