Following a damning public response to the VAR during Sydney FC's win over Perth Glory, the Head of the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, Greg O’Rourke, has defended the technology, while admitting that the length of time before a decision was “unacceptable”.

“In general the VAR has worked well ensuring that potential match changing decisions are correct and the score is a fair outcome,” said O’Rourke.

“This season we have only had three decisions go to referee review out of 16 games, so we should keep last night in perspective but acknowledge it was unacceptable from a time point of view and is being addressed,” said O’Rourke.

The A-League also addressed the VAR “principle” of “minimum interference for maximum benefit”, citing “better communication protocols” as a way of ensuring last night’s calamity doesn’t occur again.

But exactly how the A-League plans on addressing the time it takes to refer refereeing decisions, and how to expedite the process of reviewing unclear decisions, remains unclear.

The statement admitted that upon deliberation, the VAR returned an “inconclusive” review of whether Shaun Evans’ original decision should have been overruled.

The VAR’s inability to offer a clear decision last night casts some doubt over the purpose of the technology in the first place, however as O’Rourke pointed out;

“When you are introducing something new, there is a learning and continuous improvement cycle.”

How much time A-League fans are willing to give VAR to improve, remains to be seen.