Women’s World Cup ref announces VAR decision and fans think it’s ‘a soap opera’

Football fans were divided in opinion after the first VAR announcement was made at the Women's World Cup.

FIFA have made a change to how VAR is implemented for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, having trialled it in a youth tournament and the Club World Cup earlier this year.

It sees referees announce their decision to the crowd via the microphone they usually use to communicate to their fellow officials – with Japan's Yoshimi Yamashita being the first to do so as she awarded a penalty in the opening game on Thursday (July 20).

"After an on-field review, the decision is penalty," she said, pointing to the spot for co-hosts New Zealand against Norway. Some supporters were in awe of the moment.

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One tweeted: "This woman's World Cup is like a soap drama, referees announcing penalties over a microphone to the whole stadium."

A second wrote: "I’m sooo here for the referees getting their VAR announcement moment." And a third commented: "Ayyyyy the announcement of the VAR is box office!!!! Big up the ref."

But others questioned the reasoning behind it, with one arguing: "Pointless, it's exactly the same as now. We still don't know why the penalty was given."

Is the announcement an improvement to VAR? Let us know in the comments section.

"What's the point? You literally gain the same information from the hand signal as saying it," echoed a second, while a third added: "Good step in the right direction but we need to hear the conversation between room and ref."

FIFA referees chief Pierluigi Collina has overseen the new feature, which has been left open-ended for officials to make their own decisions on what to explain – so they may or may not say why the decision has been made.

Speaking pre-tournament, he said: "We didn't want to put each pressure on them [referees] so we told them to be natural, say what comes across as natural and don't be too focused on following a script.

"NFL have made announcements of refereeing decisions for 50 years and today very experienced referees make funny announcements with mistakes.

"Speaking on a microphone in front of 50, 60, 70,000 people through the PA is not easy. Refereeing is not easy and this will add some extra pressure. But we are confident that it will work well."

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