Chennaiyin FC manager Owen Coyle makes plea to bring in VAR on eve of 1000th ISL game

Owen Coyle also stressed the improvements he wants in his team.

Former Indian Super League(ISL) champions Chennaiyin FC and Mumbai City FC will play each other at the Marina Arena on Saturday. Both sides are coming off a win and are looking to rise in the 2024-25 ISL table.

The Islanders are on an 11-game unbeaten run against the Marina Machans going into their upcoming game. The match will surely go down in history irrespective of the result as it will be the 1000th ISL game.

Talking to the press ahead of the game, Chennaiyin FC’s head coach Owen Coyle spoke about how the league has progressed over the 10 years. One of the things mentioned by the veteran manager was the urgency of bringing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) into the ISL.

Owen Coyle’s thoughts on VAR

Owen Coyle praised how far the league has come in the last 11 years adding that he believed the ISL will grow a lot more in the coming seasons. However, the Scotsman did suggest adding VAR would significantly help Indian football in terms of refereeing.

Owen Coyle said, “We need VAR. One reason is to help referees and the second is to get things right about key match incidents. There will always be little fouls in the halfway line, ultimately that happens. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t get it. But the big incidents, you know the penalties, offsides, the goals, and other things – we need to get it right.”

Adding to his earlier statement, the Chennaiyin FC coach said, “I am all in for VAR. It may take an extra minute or two to get the decisions. But we will have a better percentage of correct decisions. Plus you don’t want to have the feeling of having played well but having lost just on a bad decision.”

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There have been questionable refereeing decisions in ISL 2024-25

The refereeing standards in the ISL have not been up to par in recent seasons. Owing to this, there has been a call to bring in the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the Indian Super League from coaches, journalists, and fans alike.

Mohun Bagan’s 3-2 win over NorthEast United in September was under a lot of scrutiny. Subhasish Bose’s goal in the 61st minute of the game was a clear foul on the goalkeeper that was not given and this cost the Highlanders dearly.

Kerala Blasters’ recent game against Hyderabad FC saw another big refereeing blunder as the Nizams were given an unjust penalty after the ball hit the KBFC defender’s stomach. The Blasters eventually lost the game 2-1 and this could be a costly error by the official in the context of the league table at the end of the season.

Refereeing errors have not helped Chennaiyin FC

Chennaiyin FC have themselves been on the receiving end of bad refereeing decisions this season. One of Marina Machans’ goals was ruled out against Punjab FC. This error eventually cost the side dearly as they ended up losing to the Shers 3-2 in Delhi.

Owen Coyle’s side were on the end of another questionable refereeing decision against Jamshedpur FC on Monday. The referee gave a penalty to JFC in the closing minutes of the game even though the linesman had correctly signaled for offside. This eventually cost Chennaiyin FC their clean sheet but the side did manage to register a dominant 5-1 win.

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