New Delhi: The Premier League has postponed the introduction of semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) after an eight-minute video assistant referee checks during the FA Cup’s fifth-round game between Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The technology was being used for the first time in English football in seven of the eight fifth-round games.
However, at Vitality Stadium, the technology failed which sources explained due to a very “congested” penalty area. This led to an unforeseen delay as the video assistant referee Timothy Wood made three checks before disallowing Bournemouth defender Milos Kerkez’s first-half goal as offside.
Utterly bizarre scenes at Vitality Stadium as after a seven-minute delay a 35th-minute effort by Milos Kerkez is ruled out for offside. Referee Sam Barrott spoke to both coaches during the VAR review which first looked at handball and then offside. 1-0. 42’ pic.twitter.com/I0c5LKtRM8
— George Sessions (@GeorgeSessions) March 1, 2025
This has led to plans to introduce SAOT in the Premier League following the conclusion of the international break at the end of this month on hold. The FA has confirmed that they will be holding another trial in three of the FA Cup quarter-finals set for this month and will continue its use in the semi-final and final. Preston are going to host Aston Villa and since they are a Championship club they won’t have the capacity to function with the system.
Premier League reacts to SAOT delay
Premier League sources have said that while they would like to implement SAOT this season itself, but require clubs to support them in this venture. At present, the earliest they can introduce the system would be the weekend of April 5th and 6th. Clubs though have reservations against a major change with just eight games remaining in the season.
The clubs had voted unitedly in favour of SAOT last April and it was set to be introduced last October but the in-stadium testing displayed problems regarding its accuracy and it wasn’t solved until last month.
The Premier League’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, confessed to having “severe doubts” over the feasibility of the SAOT last month and there are many concerns that need to be addressed. With VAR already bringing a lot of criticism to the Premier League, there is a sense of reluctance to introduce the system while it is still under trial.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited has said that SAOT will be reducing the delays by 30 seconds as the lines are drawn automatically, which makes this record-long delay in English football a little embarrassing.
FA had previously warned that marginal offside decisions in crowded goalmouths would be too tight for the new technology to judge. At Bournemouth, after the all-clear for that handball issue which started the offside check SAOT didn’t work. The delay caused a lot of frustration from the home side fans. The delay was two minutes longer than the previous VAR check delay.
Premier League delays use of SAOT after record-time delay occurs during FA Cup fifth round clash between Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
