Sevilla FC's sporting director, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo 'Monchi', took part in a conference organised by the RFEF, the RFAF and the Law Faculty of the University of Sevilla. Monchi was part of the round-table 'VAR in Spanish football: experience, theory and conclusions' alongside Mario Melero López - La Liga's head referee -, Miguel Pérez Rocamora and José Ruiz - Real Betis' legal director.
During the talk, Monchi stated 'I'm fully behind VAR. Not completely to the death, but I'm massively in favour of it because I believe it's a tool that makes the game fairer which is what we all want. The problem lies in finding the balance between the three factors surrounding VAR which are it not being used enough, the legal aspect and not slowing the game down.' Regarding the last factor, he added 'if one day a club can prove that they played forty minutes less during the season as a result of VAR and went down, and an opponent who played more minutes stayed up, there would be a problem. If we stopped the clock when VAR was in use, everyone would end up playing the same number of minutes. Games can be decided in injury time - as things stand, VAR does take up time and that can affect the final result. I think stopping the clock could be a solution.'
Monchi also suggested that 'we ought to sell the terminology better to normal people. I love VAR but I think we need to publicise it better so people have a more positive view of it; it is a tool that makes the game fairer and helps the referees who have such a difficult job.'
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