03 October 2023 , 08:19
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Chelsea manager Emma Hayes branded the lack of goal-line technology and VAR in women’s football “ludicrous” and “embarrassing” after being denied a goal against Tottenham despite the ball clearly going over the line.
The reigning champions began their Women's Super League title defence with a 2-1 victory over their London rivals at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from debutante Mia Fishel and Lionesses starlet Lauren James. Yet, with only Fishel’s opener separating the teams, Chelsea’s Guro Reiten seemingly bundled the ball over the line shortly after the interval to put the hosts 2-1 up.
The Norway international, joined by her teammates, wheeled away in celebration. But on-pitch officials did not give the goal, with Spurs’ Ashleigh Neville clearing the ball out of the goal mouth. A bemused Reiten was ultimately saved any need for protest as Niamh Charles collected the second phase and stood up a cross for James to volley in from close range.
But James’ decisive goal did not appease Hayes, who slammed the inconsistent use of investment in the top-flight of the women’s game. "I want to know why are we not investing in it [technology]?" Hayes told Sky Sports after the game. "That has to be put to the board who make the decisions. It's embarrassing.
"Everyone knew in the stadium it had gone in. Fair enough there could be a human error but that's what VAR is for, but I probably shouldn't say that after Tottenham vs Liverpool yesterday!
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"If this is the Premier League of women's football, the top level, we've already proven we can have VAR-lite, we had it at Kingsmeadow in a pre-season game.
"We can talk about investing in youth football but we need [goal-line technology] - it's ludicrous. We had it at the World Cup. We had it in the FA Cup final but not the semi-finals."
Guro Reiten celebrates after scoring a goal that was not given in the 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)Hayes’ reproval arrives shortly after Chelsea defender, Millie Bright, voiced similar consternation at the inconsistent use of VAR on the international stage.
The Lionesses fell to a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in the second match of their Nations League campaign, though the post-mortems revolved heavily around the clear offside position of Daniëlle van de Donk led to Lieke Martens’ opener.
"There is no consistency," the Lioness said. "It is always frustrating [to not have VAR]. I think we push the level of the game to be so high and professional, yet we sometimes have VAR, sometimes don't, sometimes have goal-line technology."
Though a number of WSL matches on opening weekend were played at teams' corresponding men's Premier League or Championship stadiums, a majority of women's sides compete regularly at grounds owned by clubs lower down the men's pyramid. The financial burden on clubs has made the implementation of VAR and goal-line technology a challenge.