PETALING JAYA, Oct 25 — A thorough study needs to be conducted before the video assistant referee (VAR) technology can be adopted widely in the Malaysia League (M-League), according to Malaysian Football League (MFL) chief executive officer Stuart Ramalingam.
He said there were certain constraints faced in adopting this technology in the near future because its implementation involved not only match officials but also infrastructure at a stadium.
"This VAR issue is not just a matter of implementing it in one match. Match officials need to be trained and infrastructure has to be provided at the stadium, which involves high costs.
"We also need to look at industry fairness...if suddenly we want to use it in a final. So it does not mean the protocol can be simply implemented,” Stuart said at a ceremony to announce beverage company Origina as a sponsor of the 2022 Malaysia Cup and 2023 Malaysia League, earlier today.
He said the VAR technology was used for the first time in Malaysia at the AFC Cup final between KL City FC and Oman club Al-Seeb at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last Saturday but it could not be easily implemented at other stadiums.
“This (VAR) requires time to be properly implemented because stadiums do not belong to teams but are owned by stadium corporations or state governments.
"Stadiums sometimes have internet problems. It would not be fair to use this technology only at Bukit Jalil Stadium. We need to look at other stadiums like in Alor Star, Kota Bharu to ensure the infrastructure is there," Stuart said.
He added that although VAR was not under the jurisdiction of MFL, they remain committed to working together with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to improve the standard of refereeing in the domestic league to avoid any problems.
— Bernama
