West Ham United Supporters’ Trust notes the acknowledgement from the PGMOL that the VAR decisions on Saturday 3rd September, involving West Ham United was “incorrect”.

Acknowledgement alone is not enough. The consequence of this negligence was that West Ham did not receive the points we should have gained through our performance on the pitch. This could prove to be detrimental in league position or financial earning at the end of the season.

VAR was introduced to reduce controversy. It is failing. VAR was introduced to correct clear and obvious errors. It is failing. VAR’s rationale was minimum interference maximum benefit. It is failing. Sporting results are increasingly at the mercy of unseen, unaccountable figures, where lack of transparency is a concern.

The decisions made by those operating VAR severely affect clubs and supporters and the integrity of our game. We demand:

• The referees and VAR officials involved in incorrect decisions to publicly apologise for their actions.

• Those officials to receive season bans from officiating in the Premier League and detailed retraining.

• For the referees and VAR officials to give public justification for any incident deemed to be a clear and obvious error.

• For the league and PGMOL to meet with supporters as soon as possible to discuss the future use of VAR.

• The relevant authorities speak to their counterparts in Cricket and Rugby, both League and Union, who use technology to improve the game. They have been effective in using technology in doing so.

Those shocking decisions must not happen again – suspend VAR now.

Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust have said:

As the Premier League saw fit to ask PGMOL for a review of decisions at games involving West Ham and Newcastle this weekend, fans of both clubs are left furious at the lack of reasoning as to why the original decisions were taken, when they are so clear and obvious to everyone else (opposing managers excluded). A major review is needed, and we look forward to working with WHUST and supporter organisations across the Premier League to make representations to the league and PGMOL. This can't continue.

We have a specific workstream that works with The FSA and deals with the issues surrounding the implementation of VAR in the Premier League:
https://www.whust.org/our-work/fsa-var-working-group

An FSA network meeting of Premier League supporter orgainsations is meeting week commencing 20th September 2022, where the recent VAR decisions are high on the agenda.

The Failure of VAR? Decision pending