DEL does it completely differently
Football should take a close look at this video evidence
19.09.2024, 14:28
Video evidence can also be a success story. Really! In football it is still a long way from being a success, but in German ice hockey it is established and recognized. This is also because video evidence is used very differently. It is only intended to help people help themselves.
In football, it causes heated discussions every week, and at the Olympics in fencing or wrestling, it causes constant interruptions. In ice hockey, on the other hand, video evidence is a success story that began in Germany almost 25 years ago. “The way we do it, it’s very good,” says DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke, “it’s self-help for the referee, no outside control. No fourth official, no Keller telling him what to do.”
The German Ice Hockey League introduced the technical aid in the 1999/2000 season – at the start of the play-offs. “In the beginning there were two VHS video recorders and a monitor at the timekeeper’s,” remembers Jörg von Ameln, who was responsible for game operations in the DEL then and now. The goal judges in their little houses, who turned on a green light when a goal was – from their point of view – valid, were “antiquated.”
“Referee on the ice has to make a decision”
“We were the first in Germany,” says von Ameln, “and the other leagues gradually approached us.” At first there was only one camera over the goal, and when the TV partner at the time, Premiere, broadcast the games, there was also another video recorder showing the TV images. The only decisions that were made were based on goals: Was the puck behind the line? Was an attacker offside in the goal area? Was the puck kicked into the goal? Was the goalkeeper obstructed?
Unlike in football or the NHL, there was and is no video referee or VAR to intervene from outside. “The referee on the ice has to make a decision before he goes out,” explains von Ameln, “the images have to refute his decision 100 percent. If not, it stands.” Serious errors are rare; they happened because video evidence was not even used. Like in 2021 with an Augsburg phantom goal, when the puck slipped through a hole in the net into the goal from outside. Or in 2023, when the puck slipped under the goal frame during a Straubing goal.
“Even the NHL is watching our work”
Unlike football, where penalties and expulsions are also involved, video evidence was initially limited to goal decisions. It has only been three years since major penalties for serious fouls have been confirmed or reduced via video – now, thanks to TV partner Telekom, digital in HD and from different perspectives for every game. Since the previous season, it has been possible to check whether the puck was shot over the plexiglass in a punishable manner. The latest innovation: all referees explain their decisions via microphone and hall loudspeakers – even those after video evidence. In addition, the new system allows them to communicate better with each other on the ice. “The NHL is even looking at this function with us,” says von Ameln.
There is of course room for improvement: Von Ameln would like to have three cameras in the crossbar – a question of cost. There is always discussion about whether coaches can demand video evidence like in the NHL. “There is currently no need for it,” says von Ameln. The number of video evidences is already too high anyway, last season 214 for goals, 91 for penalties. 28 goal decisions were revised. “We see that as a success,” stresses von Ameln.