VAR has been on the receiving side of the hate for some time now, since it was introduced in the EPL and even though it has certainly saved few teams from losing or given the much-needed penalty in the dying moments, which when scored remained the sole difference between the winner and loser, still it is kind of loved and hated at the same time. Even James Milner admitted that he is falling out of love with the game and his sentiments were echoed by his team-mate Andy Robertson. Don’t get us wrong, VAR’s role can never be minimized. It can spoil a fan’s fun very easily.
With a fanbase like this, we still hope that VAR could come back and save the entire day. It mainly helps referees and reduces the number of incorrect decisions and perhaps it can still do that without being a burden to the game. Recently Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal was sent off after he headbutted a player- only because of VAR. The referee completely missed it but was eventually fined for it.
Hairline offside calls due to an arm being beyond the line or a toe as well. Mohamed Salah had his goal ruled out due to the toe incident. There isn’t any doubt that VAR needs to be improved but the bodies behind it have to find resolutions quickly.
One of the suggestions in this case reads that the fans be able to hear what the ref and VAR are discussing, thus getting to know how difficult it is to be there at the brink of the moment. Where these boards suck is, implementation.
Another suggestion is regarding the time taken. In many cases the time taken is a lot and both fans and players should not have to wait for 5 mins for a goal to happen or not.
One way to keep it in check would be to use VAR less.
Using it for an objective call like an offside or handball makes sense but intervening in subjective calls – such as whether one referee deems something a foul or not – shouldn’t be a part of the process.
If the decision-makers wish to persist with VAR being used for these types of decisions, there should be a time limit of between 30 seconds to a minute for the referee to make a decision. Also, the sportsman spirit suffers a huge blow.
VAR is still in its infancy and it’s not going perfect so far. So, shutting it down so easily wouldn’t benefit so easily.
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