'Video referees' to hopefully eliminate bad calls and dives at the next World Cup

FIFA is finally starting to embrace technology.

The organization just announced that it wants video assistant referees (VARs) to be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The video refs are, in essence, a limited form of instant replay, issuing rulings from their video monitor that the on-the-field refs might have missed.

"In 2017, when everyone in the stadium or at home can see within seconds if the referee made a mistake, we can't have a situation where the only one who can't see it is the referee," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino

One such blatant example has been making the rounds from a recent Scottish Premiere League match between Ross County and Celtic, when a Ross player took a pretty blatant dive yet Celtic was penalized anyway.

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While there was no video referee in that match, they have been used at various smaller tournaments and during a few friendlies so far, giving officials a chance to see how it works and how it can be tweaked before it goes wide.

In the recent Club World Cup in Japan in December 2016, the calls the video refs worked on were "goals, penalties, red cards and cases of mistaken identity," per Sky Sports.

The technology was also used to correct a pair of bad calls in a recent friendly match between France and Spain.

And the rulings had an effect on the outcome. What was a 2-0 win for Spain might have been a 1-1 draw had it not been for the two rulings, one of which reversed a France goal and one which allowed a Spain goal.

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Despite the way the calls affected the final, French coach Didier Deschamps seemed largely supportive of the technology, saying, "If it is verified and it is fair, why not use it? It changes our football a little. It is against us today but if we have to go through this it will be the same for everyone."

Infantino cited such positive feedback as a big reason why he wants to move forward to bringing the video refs to Russia next year: "We will use video refereeing at the 2018 World Cup because we've had nothing but positive feedback so far."

FIFA has also been using and improving goal-line technology in recent years in another effort to make for fair and correct calls and take just a little bit of drama away from some moments.

The decision comes a little over 30 years too late for England but, hey, better late than never.