Craig Pawson has been referring to Premier League matches for over a decade and was the man in the middle as the league brought them to the video assistant referee.
Premier League referee Craig Pawson remains a “big fan” for VAR, but supports new technological changes to help fans better understand what’s going on. He recognizes that the wider acceptance of video assistant judgement is unhappy with the speed of decisions not only in the UK but in some countries, regardless of other feelings about technology.
Pawson also applies to staff members of his experience. He is responsible for over 250 Premier League matches (first match over 10 years ago) as Champions League, Europa League and World Cup qualifying games.
Certainly, his recent league games have been talking to people. The main topic of discussion is not his decision to award Manchester United a penalty against Brentford, but rather a call to Nathan Collins, rather than a red card to admit the kick. The next day, whatever your opinion is on decisions or controversial calls involving other officials, such as Arsenal’s dramatic victory over Newcastle, the 46-year-old is coming out on the bat for VAR for simple reasons.
“I think that’s really good because of the introduction of VAR and the fact that there are now stadium announcements. Clearly, I’m a huge fan of VAR.” “As a judge, the last thing I want to do is make mistakes that affect the game.
“Obviously, for the stadium audience, they often find out in the end why my decision has changed, and I think it can be very frustrating.
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However, he realizes that it is a balanced act and says, “It’s always a challenge, but technology doesn’t want to slow down the game’s speed, and that sometimes doesn’t make you feel a little bit frustrated with technology. So, it means we can get a better product, but obviously it’s just that we’re changing the game too much.
There were several ways technology has made its way into the game. Semi-automated offside speeds up what used to be a time-consuming process and minimizes outages, but Ref-Cam and in-stadium announcements are designed to give matching fans and fans watching at home a variety of benefits.
“I think the more we share with the public and make you understand what it is like being on the field, and the fact that in fact the views you actually have as a judge are very different from what you see at home,” Pawson said. “I did it myself, so sometimes you sit at home and oh…
“When you have a camera from behind the goal, or when you’re chasing a player with six, seven, eight, nine players, you can’t see all the time. It can be very challenging. And the more we can educate, the more we can let people know about challenges on the field. I think it’s really positive.”
Pawson also admitted that there were levels of pushbacks from several quarters. “Obviously, I think accepting VAR has been a very challenge in certain countries, especially here (the UK),” he added. “So, wherever we can implement technology that can improve the fan experience and make decisions easier to understand, I think they are real positives.”
Pawson says things have evolved a long way since he first worked on a Premier League match in 2013. This applies to the preparation of the judge and what’s going on behind the scenes. He and his colleagues are still subject to scrutiny, both by their professional abilities and those watching the game in the pub on Saturday or Sunday.
“As the team evolves, there’s now more analysis of tactics and the data behind things,” he said. “We study teams and study their tactics. Obviously, we’re a little in the hands of the team, because they have to respond in situations that happen in the game.
“We can prepare and prepare as much as we can about how our teams play, what they do in set play, what they do with long pitches, what their tactics do in corners, but the teams try to surprise us as well.
“So you’re trying to make sure you’re very well prepared, but you’re clearly ready to adapt to the best fit in the game in the game. The game is getting faster and faster each year, and the expectations are very fast, especially in the Premier League.
“It’s something people like about it, they like passion, they like the speed of how the game plays, so it’s important that we put it into reality, but it’s important that we’re refereeing.
“We make hundreds, thousands of decisions during the game when it comes to how we evaluate, but we’re mostly rated for big decisions. Red cards, penalties, important match decisions, we all want to explain them.
“And we have officials in regards to representatives who are former players or managers, so they are actually partially evaluated on different paths, they are inside the stadium.
“We also have a Keymatch Incident Panel, which is basically a group of former players and managers, and we look at individual decisions and decide if they are right or wrong.
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