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Governing bodies sent clear referee and VAR instruction amid more controversy

The topic of referees and VAR continues to dominate the football agenda. Technology was supposed to come in and fix a number of problems we had with our national sport, but, in many ways it has only served to cause more controversy.

There have been plenty of mistakes made when it comes to offside decisions, while red cards and penalties remain subjective base on who is behind the cameras compared to who is on the pitch officiating.

One of the major bones of contention for supporters is how long it takes to find out which decision has been made when you're inside a stadium. You can be celebrating a goal one minute and then, four or five minutes later have that joy wiped out by a VAR call.

For players, however, the issue is a lack of communication from the man in the middle. And that feeds into supporter issues too, with not knowing what is happening when decisions are being made.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry believes things could be solved by taking the approach rugby has when it comes to officiating.

Speaking on CBS during the coverage of the Champions League this week, Henry said: "We have a lot to take from rugby. They always explain.

"When I was playing, what used to annoy me was you never got an explanation from the referee, it looks like you can't talk to them. In rugby they don't go and try and speak to the referee because they know they're going to have an explanation. Not only them, but the stadium.

"When you speak to your kid and you say 'go to sleep' and you don't give an explanation of why they have to go to sleep they won't take it!

"If I know I get an explanation I listen, if you're not going to explain it to me I'll try to find out like any human being will do. You will have your opinion, I will have my opinion, but when you know the referee will give you an explanation and explain it to the fans, everybody listens, everybody knows 'don't do that again, don't do that again, you will get a red, you will get a yellow' or whatever it is, and get on with the game."

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