- Title: Germany's soccer league DFL presents a video assistance programme for referees
- Date: 20th July 2017
- Summary: COLOGNE, GERMANY (JULY 20, 2017) (REUTERS) DFL (GERMAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION) BOARD ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST PHOTOGRAPHER DFL BOARD AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) DFL (GERMAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION) BOARD MEMBER AND DFL SOCCER RELATED MATTERS DIRECTOR, ANSGAR SCHWENKEN, SAYING: "We have the clear objective of not really changing the basic character of the game as well as not having too much added time because the referee and the video assistant have a long conversation. We actually believe the game can be even accelerated. So far, in cases of doubtful decisions taken by the referee, when he has to communicate with his assistant, or hear complaints coming from the players, etcetera, the play draws on a bit. In the test phase it turned out that in the Bundesliga decisions take between ten and forty seconds. And even though that is relatively fast, much faster than the Confederations Cup was, we have come to the right decision. So from this point of view, on one hand it doesn't take too long, and on the other hand sometimes even shorter than in these situations of doubtful decisions." VIDEO ASSIST LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (German) DFL (GERMAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION) BOARD MEMBER AND DFL SOCCER RELATED MATTERS DIRECTOR, ANSGAR SCHWENKEN, SAYING: "A total of 104 game-related mistakes were made in 306 games last season related to refereeing. That means that on average such mistakes appeared every third game. This is why we are not going to worry about the excessive use of the video assistant in any game. Our referees in Germany are way too good for that. Of these 104 game-related errors 77 would be have been corrected in the last season by the video assistant." VARIOUS OF VIDEO ASSIST TECHNOLOGY ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF BUNDESLIGA REFEREE SASCHA STEGEMANN OPERATING SYSTEM MONITOR SHOWING VIDEO ASSIST LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (German) BUNDESLIGA REFEREE, SASCHA STEGEMANN, SAYING: "We try to assist our colleagues on the field as if we were another assistant in order to reduce match-winning errors or such that can influence the result of the match." STEGEMANN AT INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (German) BUNDESLIGA REFEREE, SASCHA STEGEMANN, SAYING: "As video assistants we analyse many, many more pictures, and we had to get into it over the course of last year. Up until now we have always analysed pictures during courses and always asked ourselves: 'What can we learn from this situation?' But the issue within the framework of this project is different: It is not about whether the referee's decision is correct or justifiable but whether it is clearly wrong. And this is the difficulty of this project, to define these cases and filter them out, and in this way to support the referee." STEGEMANN AT INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (German) BUNDESLIGA REFEREE, SASCHA STEGEMANN, SAYING: "In any case, he will be a bit fairer. We also have to add that it is not the task of the video assistant to correct all errors by a referee because there are only four cases in which the video assistant is allowed to intervene: penalty situations, all incidents that have to do with a goal, red cards and mistaken identities of players. These are the cases that can affect the game in some way or another. But it should not be that the video assistant is now acting as a supreme judge and controls all the decisions of the referee in case of doubt." STEGEMANN AT INTERVIEW
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2017 16:27
- Keywords: soccer video technology referees DFL
- Location: COLOGNE, GERMANY
- City: COLOGNE, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QIRVWF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The governing body in charge of the Bundesliga presented a video assistance programme for referees on Thursday (July 20) as they roll out more technology ahead of the new season.
The DFL claimed it would improve the quality of soccer matches and even significantly reduce delays for contentious decisions.
The aim is to let the referee communicate with two video assistant referees sitting in a room in the stadium with access to all camera angles.
They can look at goals scored, penalties awarded, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity, when a player awarded a yellow or red card is not actually involved in an incident.
The DFL will implement the system next season and invest 1.8 million euro in the technology. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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