LONDON — Reggae Boy and West Ham United West Ham forward Michail Antonio says the video assistant referee (VAR) system needs to be “binned.”
His call came after West Ham was controversially denied a 90th-minute equalizer at Chelsea last Saturday after VAR intervened.
Referees’ body PGMOL accepted that decision – and a second VAR call in the Newcastle United versus Crystal Palace match – was incorrect.
“It was madness; that’s what I will call it. An actual madness” said 32-year-old Antonio, who scored West Ham’s goal.
He added on the Footballer’s Football Podcast on BBC Sounds: “I have said this many times. It needs to be binned.”
Maxwell Cornet thought he had equalized at 2-2 for West Ham at Stamford Bridge, but, after being told to look at the monitor by VAR, referee Andrew Madley decided there was a foul on goalkeeper Edouard Mendy by Jarrod Bowen and reversed his decision to award a goal.
West Ham manager David Moyes called the decision “scandalous.”
“As a player, we all knew it [the incident] was nothing,” said Antonio.
“It is all about opinions – about the referee’s view, the fourth official’s opinion, and the opinion of whoever is watching.
“If the referee makes a decision, another person goes, ‘that might not be the right decision.’ He goes to the referee, ‘you might have to have another look at that.
“He is putting doubt in the referee’s mind when he is already sure about his decision.
“You are spending all this money on VAR [which is in its fourth full Premier League season after it was introduced in 2019] for things to go wrong still,” he added.
Football matches in England will be postponed this weekend as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday at the age of 96.
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