It’s a pause that soccer fans have become painfully familiar with. A ref draws a “TV” box with their fingers and jogs over to a review monitor to look over a play while conferring with another official, the Video Assistant Referee, tucked away in a room surrounded by monitors.
But what should have been a routine check during a game between the Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls during the 2024 MLS season received an unnecessary layer of confusion.
After the video assistant completed his check and ruled that a collision with the goalkeeper in the box was not a foul, a Professional Referee Organization (PRO) manager on site — someone who was not a match official for that game — told him to take a second look.
A transcript of the interaction was provided to by a source briefed on MLS VAR procedures who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The structure encompassing the officiating of North American soccer matches is a sometimes dizzying combination of acronyms and intermingled bodies. PRO oversees refereeing as it relates to professional leagues. The Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) is a certified labor union representing the rights of the refs themselves. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is an independent organization upholding the rules of soccer around the world.
Even the terminology around VAR, used to ensure the accuracy of calls on critical plays but often derided as slowing down the game and disrupting its natural flow, is complex. The Video Referee… also has an assistant.
IFAB regulations mandate that VAR decisions must be made by only the on-field officials, plus the video ref and their aforementioned assistant — meaning the interaction above was at odds with the accepted global standards for use of video replay.
According to multiple sources familiar with PRO policy and refereeing at the top level of men’s and women’s soccer, interference from PRO has become a habitual problem in MLS and NWSL games. While the presence of a PRO manager listening in at a game would be normal as part of their analysis and oversight, actual participation in the in-game decision making process extends beyond their remit.
During the Crew-Red Bulls incident, the first part of the VAR check played out fairly normally on the field, with a pause of approximately a minute for the check itself, followed by another minute and a half to get a Red Bulls player hurt in the collision off the field and prepare for a drop ball.
As the hurt player prepared to re-enter the field, suddenly there was confusion — unknown to the players, but concurrent with the call for “delay, delay.” The player protested not being allowed to come back on, while the Crew goalkeeper rolled his eyes. The center referee went to the VAR monitor, seemingly after it had been already decided the check was complete and play was to continue. Ultimately, the center referee and the VAR came again to the same conclusion, with the center announcing on the field that there was no foul on the play.
spoke to several referees, all of whom have at least several years of experience in MLS, who claimed that incidents like the one in the Crew-Red Bulls game were part of a pattern of interference. Two referees, Referee A and Referee B, requested anonymity due to fear of professional reprisal from PRO.
Rather than a mere squabble between rival bureaucratic bodies, the referees are adamant there are bigger issues at stake: The need for the viewing public to have faith in their officiating performance, and that the VAR process is conducted with transparency.
“The interference has been supervisors coming into the pods at halftimes of games,” said Referee A. “And also, we have a communication headset where they’re also able to listen and talk, and they’ve come on during the course of the game to help point us in a different direction.”
“There is a concern (among referees) that the protocols in place are not being upheld as they have been previously enforced,” said Referee B. “There have been suggestions which fall outside of the strict protocol that we’ve been asked to carry.”
When asked by for comment on whether PRO supervisors had interfered with VAR calls, a PRO spokesperson responded by email, “There have been 2,649 checks across MLS and NWSL in 2024, of which six checks (0.002 per cent) prompted comment from the Supervisor to a VMO (Video Match Official). PRO conducted an internal review when this was brought to our attention and improvements were immediately made to PRO’s processes as a result.”
MLS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
PSRA, the union, has documented at least five instances of interference, which were laid out in letters sent to PRO on Oct. 25 and Nov. 15, and also circulated among its own membership.
The letters were provided to by an MLS referee, as well as two others relating specifically to correspondence regarding the Crew-Red Bulls game. In an Oct. 24 email from PRO to MLS referees, PRO admitted that its match supervisor had “intervened” and unfairly influenced the game officials in a way that was “outside the scope” of their position.
PRO senior director of match officials Mark Geiger, himself a former MLS and international referee, apologized for the interference and expressed his confidence in referee decisions.
PSRA responded that, despite the apology, its membership were still concerned about interference and requested that supervisor microphones be made inactive for the rest of the 2024 season, except in the event of a technology failure or an emergency. It also highlighted three inappropriate interventions during NWSL games in April and May.
The international standard of upholding impartiality and protecting referees from interference is at the core of IFAB’s policies, but is deeply felt by fans, too. When the chief refereeing officer of the organization that oversees officiating in the English Premier League was merely seen talking on his phone during a VAR review in October, it was enough to ignite speculation about interference.
IFAB’s dedication to transparency is why the referee stays visible during VAR checks and why the monitor feed the referee is watching during these checks is visible to others.
“The purpose of the (VAR) protocol was for the referee to take the decision in full view of everyone,” said Referee B. “When you have inputs from places unknown, this delay, I believe, creates doubt and draws the referee’s expertise into question, because they are no longer in control, and it should be the referee that’s in control because they are the final adjudicator.”
Though some of the incidents that learned about may be motivated by making an accurate decision or keeping games moving, MLS referees interviewed say that the interference has created resentment and confusion for referees, who now don’t know whether to expect interference or what form it might take.
“Long pauses create anxiety, said Referee B. “You fill the stadium with 30,000 people, and they’re asked to wait and their bated breath with an expectation that his decision will go a certain way and then we’re held up for a reason, and then we’d go to review, and then we’re held up even longer… now we have confusion because there’s conflict.”
It’s not just fans who get anxious.
“I think when the guys on the field don’t know if it’s the guys in the booth making the decision… You already don’t want to be wrong when you’re on the field, but now you’re wondering, ‘Am I wrong because my peers think I’m wrong, or am I wrong because my peers are being told something and then they’re relaying that information to me?’ ” said Referee A.
There is precedent for punishing interference with VAR. In 2017, Bundesliga referee supervisor Hellmut Krug was demoted by the DFB, Germany’s national soccer federation, after accusations he had unduly influenced two VAR reviews on penalties. After that match, referee supervisors were forbidden from speaking to VARs to preserve the independence of VAR decisions.
“Uncertainty creates pushback from players,” said Referee B. “You feel that pressure the longer a recommendation takes. You feel that pressure the longer you’re at the monitor… We talk about hostile environments, stadiums that create a lot of noise, and the players will feed on that.”
Referee A said that they wanted fans to understand that more is going on behind the scenes than just the immediate decision on the field, whether they agree with the decision or not.
“We care about the game as deeply as the fans do,” said Referee A.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls, MLS, Soccer, NWSL
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