Ronnie Kalema, a member of the FUFA Executive Committee has revealed that Video assistant referee (VAR) is set to be used in the Uganda Premier League in the near future.
While appearing on the morning Sports show, NBS Sport in the morning, Kalema said that the federation has intentions to introduce VAR in Ugandan football leagues.
“We have a discussion about introducing VAR in our Ugandan league. We want to be the number one nation to have VAR in Africa,” said Kalema.
However, he did not provide more information on when the federation hopes to roll out the process for the introduction of VAR.
This comes at the back of the controversial decision of FUFA’s Disciplinary Panel that has ordered the replay of the Stanbic Uganda Cup match between Bul FC and SC Villa.
SC Villa petitioned FUFA complaining about their disallowed goal in the match that was played on February 17 2023.
After investigations, the report from the Referee’s Disciplinary panel indicated that the Assistant Referee Muyanga Khalid admitted that he had erred in his decision of denying SC Villa their equaliser.
This is not the first time match officials are being held liable for incorrect decisions in Ugandan football leagues, and the idea of VAR may as well be a solution.
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. Operating under the philosophy of “minimal interference, maximum benefit”, the VAR system seeks to provide a way for “clear and obvious errors” and “serious missed incidents” to be corrected.
The VAR automatically checks every on-field referee decision falling under the four reviewable categories. If the VAR does not identify any mistake during the check, he or she will communicate this to the referee. This is called a “silent check” and requires no further action, usually not causing any delay to the game. At other times, a VAR check may cause the game to be delayed while the VAR ascertains whether or not a possible mistake has occurred. The referee may delay the restart of play for this to occur, and indicates an ongoing check by pointing to his or her ear.
