In the grand theater of football, where every decision can swing fortunes, technology has become an increasingly vocal, if sometimes controversial, participant. While the upper echelons of the game grapple with the intricate and often polarizing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, Italy’s Serie C is pioneering its own, more grounded approach: the Football Video Support, or FVS. Far from being a mere `VAR on a budget,` FVS introduces a distinctly tactical layer to match officiating, empowering coaches with a limited but potent tool for justice.
FVS: Not Your Elder Brother`s VAR
Let`s be clear from the outset: FVS is not simply a stripped-down VAR. Those who label it “VAR on demand” miss the fundamental conceptual differences. Absent are the sprawling VAR rooms, the multitude of screens, and the remote Video Match Officials meticulously scrutinizing every pixel. Instead, Serie C adopts a leaner, more immediate setup.
Imagine this: a single pitch-side station, manned by a “fifth official”—typically an assistant from the CAN Pro refereeing body. This individual isn`t there to judge but to operate, displaying relevant footage to the main referee when a review is triggered. The crucial distinction? The trigger itself. Unlike VAR, where automated checks run constantly in the background, FVS relies on a more human, and frankly, more dramatic, mechanism: the coach`s challenge.
The Coach`s Gambit: Two Challenges, Four Scenarios
Each coach begins the match with two “challenge” cards, a precious commodity to be wielded strategically. These challenges can be deployed for the same critical incidents covered by the VAR protocol:
- Goals/No Goals: Including the often contentious offside decisions.
- Penalties: The perennial flashpoint in any match.
- Direct Red Cards: For moments of undeniable severity.
- Mistaken Identity: When the wrong player is cautioned or sent off.
The beauty of the FVS system lies in its incentive structure: if a challenge leads to the on-field decision being overturned, the card is returned to the coach. A successful appeal is not only a victory for justice but also a tactical triumph, allowing the coach to maintain their full arsenal. A failed challenge, however, means a card is irrevocably spent, adding a delicious layer of pressure to every call.
Initiating a review is a simple yet ritualistic process: the coach, or a player advising them, raises a rotating finger, then hands a designated card to the fourth official, specifying the nature of the alleged infraction. Reviews can even be requested during live play, prompting the referee to halt the action at the earliest opportunity when the ball is in a “neutral zone.”
One aspect remains universally scrutinized: all goals are automatically reviewed by the fourth official. They can make a quick judgment or, if ambiguity persists, invite the referee to the monitor for their final assessment. This ensures that the most impactful decision in football — a goal — receives immediate digital verification.
Early Trials: Promises, Puzzles, and a Touch of Protocol Poking
The initial deployment of FVS in Serie C has been, as expected, a vibrant mix of clear corrections and fascinating ambiguities. In a Perugia-Guidonia match, FVS intervened decisively, converting an uncalled foul into a penalty kick for the away side, a clear win for the system. Livorno-Ternana offered a more nuanced tableau: a challenge for a penalty was rightly dismissed as the ball was out of play, while another for a direct red card resulted in a yellow, costing the coach a valuable challenge card. A further intervention for alleged violent conduct *did* lead to a red, despite some arguing it was more unsportsmanlike conduct deserving of a yellow – a subjective judgment call even with video assistance.
However, the most intriguing episode emerged from Carpi. The home bench utilized FVS to overturn a *second* yellow card issued to Lombardi for a supposed handball. The review revealed the contact was, in fact, with his chest, leading to the second yellow being rescinded. Here lies the delicious irony and potential loophole: the FVS protocol explicitly states that only *direct* red cards are reviewable. The Carpi coach, Cassani, ingeniously circumvented this by appealing for a “paradoxical direct red” for his own player, forcing a review that then allowed the *second yellow* to be rescinded. This clever piece of tactical subterfuge has undoubtedly sent shivers (or perhaps chuckles) through the refereeing high command, prompting calls for clarification from luminaries like Collina, Irrati, and Orsato. It`s a testament to human ingenuity—or perhaps, obstinacy—in the face of nascent technology.
Reactions from the Trenches: Adaptation is Key
The football community—from clubs and coaches to players and media—was thoroughly briefed on FVS, acknowledging it as an experiment with limited resources (fewer cameras on most pitches) but a constructive step forward. The consensus leans towards reducing “macroscopic errors”—those undeniable, game-changing blunders—rather than micromanaging marginal offsides or “soft” penalty calls, which will largely remain within the realm of on-field judgment.
“Every regulatory reform changes football. It was like that with back-passes, with seconds to the goalkeeper, with VAR. Now we are experiencing another revolution: the game becomes shorter but more intense, more spectacular. The episode of the red would never have been recalled in the past, but today it is. It will happen to us, it will happen to others. We will need to adapt, without hysterics, also by modifying our training sessions. It is a sport that is changing.”
Aimo Diana, coach of Brescia, described the mechanism as “a bit confusing” but expressed confidence in its eventual refinement. Fabio Liverani of Ternana highlighted two critical factors: the importance of player collaboration (one of his players dissuaded him from using a card on an incident he`d seen differently) and the need for greater speed in the review process, acknowledging this would improve over time. Indeed, early observations confirm increased stoppage time in many matches, a common growing pain for video review systems.
The Road Ahead: Refinement and Clear Directives
Football Video Support in Serie C represents a pragmatic step for lower leagues to embrace technology without the hefty investment of full VAR. It introduces a fascinating dynamic, transforming coaches into strategic arbiters, carefully weighing their challenges against the clock and the flow of the game. While the early trials have illuminated its potential to correct egregious errors, they have also exposed the inevitable teething problems – increased stoppage time, and perhaps most notably, the inventive ways in which protocols might be tested (or, dare we say, creatively circumvented). As the season progresses, further refinement of the system and, crucially, clear directives from the top echelons of refereeing will be essential to ensure FVS fulfills its promise as a vital, if slightly idiosyncratic, tool for justice in Italian football.