Technology, not a man in a booth, cost the Newcastle Jets in the A-League grand final.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) had to admit to an embarrassing error on Sunday, saying in a statement a "technical failure in the VAR system meant the Video Assistant Referee did not have access to the camera views which would have enabled him to make an offside ruling in the ninth minute goal scored for Melbourne Victory by Kosta Barbarouses".

The goal by the New Zealand international was the sole score in the Victory's 1-0 win at McDonald Jones Stadium in New South Wales on Saturday night. 

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Newcastle Jets players react after conceding the only goal of the A-League grand final on Saturday night.

Replays showed at least two players were offside in the leadup to the goal, but the VAR gave the goal the green light.

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Melbourne Victory goalscorer Kosta Barbarouses celebrates winning the A-League grand final.

FFA conducted a review into the decision to award the goal, with A-League boss Greg O'Rourke placing the blame at the feet of technology partner Hawkeye.

He said the capture software that uploads the broadcast feed into the VAR system was partially lost 30 seconds before Victory's goal due to a malfunction of software.

It was not until some minutes after the goal that this was restored, too late to change the decision on the goal as the game had restarted. Under VAR regulations, where there is no clear evidence to the contrary, the on field decision – in this case allowing the goal – stands. The camera feed to broadcaster's Fox Sports, which is routed separately, was not affected, O'Rourke said.

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Victory's Kosta Barbarouses celebrates his winning goal on Saturday, which should have been ruled out for offside.

"We are extremely disappointed at this failure of the VAR technology and we understand the disappointment and frustration of the Newcastle Jets, their fans and indeed all football fans," he said.

"VAR was introduced here and in other parts of the world as a technology based solution to correct the human errors that inevitably are made from time to time when officials are making judgements in split seconds.

"On this occasion the technology itself failed and the broadcast angles required were unavailable. We are working with Hawkeye to thoroughly understand why it did and what can be done to prevent this happening again.

"Whilst we understand that this happened only once this season it was at a most critical time. All parties desire the technology to be failure proof and that is what we will be striving for.

"This is important not just for the A-League but for other leagues around the world and for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia at which VAR will be used for the first time."

 - Stuff