Fabricio Coloccini of Newcastle is sent off by referee Bobby Madley for a foul on Steven Fletcher of Sunderland during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland AFC and Newcastle United FC at the Stadium of Light on October 25, 2015
Fabricio Coloccini of Newcastle is sent off by referee Bobby Madley for a foul on Steven Fletcher of Sunderland during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland AFC and Newcastle United FC at the Stadium of Light on October 25, 2015
(Image: Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
Referee Bobby Madley has spoken out about his disdain for VAR, saying it strips the immediate emotion from fans at matches.
Madley, who officiates in the EFL and serves as a fourth official in the Premier League, highlighted the ongoing debates surrounding the divisive technology in football.
He reflected on how the advent of VAR means iconic moments like Sergio Aguero's dramatic late goal that clinched Manchester City's first Premier League title in 2012 are now a thing of the past.
"As a fan, hate it, hate it. Love the Championship, love League One, I'm still a fan," remarked Madley, the Yorkshire-born official.
Explaining his love for football's lower tiers, he said, "I love League One because you score a goal, you look at the referee... you look at the assistant, he hasn't put his flag up, it's a goal.
"And that Sergio Aguero moment that we had years ago, where the referee was blowing, nobody's flagging, they've won the league."
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Madley pointed out how such spontaneous jubilation is now lost: "You are never, ever going to see that again in football, because they'll score in that moment and what will happen is the referee will stand there, everyone will panic, they're just checking potential offside 15 seconds ago."
He describes how delaying the confirmation of a goal diminishes its impact: "It takes that emotion away from it and football is a game where there could be one moment in the game, one goal, and that's it.
"To take that emotion away, to have to wait and wait, and what feels like an eternity, as a fan, I'm not a huge fan of that experience."
Madley is best remembered by Newcastle fans for his controversial decision to send off Fabricio Coloccini in the 2015 Wear-Tyne derby.
Steve McClaren’s side failed to take their chances though and on the stroke of half-time, Coloccini was adjudged to have committed a professional foul against Black Cats forward Steven Fletcher and Madley awarded a penalty.
Coloccini was sent off and Adam Johnson dispatched the penalty to give Sunderland a 1-0 lead. Sunderland would go on to win the game 3-0 and ultimately avoided relegation at the end of the season at Newcastle’s expense.
The red card was later overturned. A Football Association Regulatory Commission ruled that Coloccini’s foul was worthy of a spot-kick but not a sending-off and have therefore overturned referee Madley’s “obvious mistake”.
Madley was sacked as a Premier League ref in 2018 when he filmed a video appearing to mock a disabled person. After briefly relocating to Norway, he returned to officiating in England in 2020, taking charge of games in League One and League Two, before he was promoted to refereeing Championship games from the beginning of this campaign.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival during a session on technology in sport, Madley commented on football being a billion-pound industry and how technology has become an integral part due to the financial stakes involved.
"There's so much money in football, it's business driven. So any mistake is perceived to cost people money," remarked Madley. "And I don't think most football fans were clambering over each other to get video technology.
"The players weren't, the referees weren't, but the people who run football, they are multimillion-pound and billion-pound people, and they had issues with referees getting things wrong.
"I think we've got to the stage where people go, 'Sorry, we're ruining football with this now'. But we knew the monster that had been created, as referees, we knew what was coming. But I thought, so that's where we are."
He highlighted that VAR's introduction has altered the psychology of refereeing by instantaneously illustrating errors rather than revealing them post-match.
"All of a sudden you've got to process 'I've made a wrong decision' in front of 75,000 people, in front of 100million people watching. What if I make another one?" he said. "You know, I can't keep making wrong decisions because sometimes the players are going to say, 'How many more?'".
"If you're sent to the screen for a second time, the trust weighs a little bit and that's a dangerous place to be as a referee. When people stop trusting your decision-making, that can be a very dangerous place.
"That's why we have so much training with VAR and that's why we have that bar set as a clear and obvious error."
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body responsible for referees in English football, has been approached for their perspective on the matter.