New VAR offside technology and method to be now brought in by Premier League – Cuts delays


 
 
 
 
 
 

An interesting update on the Premier League and VAR offside checks.

Martyn Ziegler is Chief Sports Writer at The Times and he has the inside track on what is set to happen later this year.

Newcastle United fans and those of the other Premier League clubs, have become increasingly frustrated in particular, with the delays when it comes to calls on offside.

Not only the often ridiculous length of the delay in coming to a decision BUT also the actual decisions themselves, where to the naked eye it is so difficult, often impossible, to see whether the attacking player was offside or not.

What we know for sure, is that when we were told all of the reasons why VAR was needed, it certainly wasn’t because any players were scoring goals that were possibly millimetres ‘offside’ and yet stood.

Anyway, the main man at The Times has been explaining how things are to get speeded up, as well as becoming more accurate and used credibly.

With the new system set to be operating late in 2024.

Martyn Ziegler writing for The Times – 29 May 2024:

‘The semi-automated offside system to be used by the Premier League next season will harness artificial intelligence and “force fields” to identify when attackers are ahead of defenders.

The Times has learnt that the Premier League has agreed a deal with Second Spectrum, an American software company that is part of Genius Sports, to provide the technology for the system.

It is due to start being used in the Premier League after one of the autumn international breaks — and officials hope it will cut delays in offside decisions by an average of 31 seconds.

Instead of limb-tracking, which follows up to 36 points on the body, Second Spectrum’s Dragon system captures 10,000 “surface mesh data points” per player, over 200 times per second, and should be far more accurate in determining offsides.

The semi-automated system, which has been approved by Fifa, will replace the Hawk-Eye system, where lines are drawn manually on a screen by a VAR technician and can lead to delays of two minutes or more.

Instead, the Second Spectrum system will automatically detect when attackers are offside when the ball is kicked, with AI used to provide the lines within seconds. An image is provided to the VAR, who will judge if the attacker is interfering with play or not.

A source with knowledge of the system said the “mesh” data would effectively create an invisible “force field” which, when it is pierced by part of an attacker’s body that can score a goal — ie not their arms or hands — triggers an offside message.

3D graphics will also be made available to broadcasters and for display on big screens in stadiums to show if players were offside or not when a goal is scored.

The system is still being tested after concerns that there were occasional “black spots” where it was not 100 per cent effective, according to club sources.

The Dragon technology is already the Premier League’s official tracking data and analytics partner but has not yet been used for offsides. It is also used in basketball’s NBA competition in the United States.

The Premier League clubs agreed in April to semi-automated offsides being introduced — Uefa used its own system in the Champions League last season. Hawk-Eye will continue to provide other VAR technology.’