Andy Thompson says…
I remember a rugby game where referee Nigel Owens was asked to make a decision on a video replay of a rough-looking tackle.
The video referees played the play in question on repeat in slow motion. Eventually, Owens asked for the video to be played at normal speed, and the difference was huge. What seemed like a borderline war crime in slow motion was actually just a slightly ill-timed tackle, and Owens gave a light warning and the game moved on.
Right now, the VAR we have in football seems addicted
to slow motion replays played on repeat, with any foul looking even worse each time.
VAR has always had the potential to address issues that everyone complained about before we had it — and it’s saved us and other teams from a few injustices already, but it’s also been responsible for stupid decisions being made.
For matters where human judgement is involved, the presumption should be that the on-field referee is correct. I think that the Video-Assisted Referee should have a strict limit on the number of times they can replay a tackle in slow motion, and a time limit by which they need to call the referee to look.
Over the course of the season, I’m not too worried about the effect of VAR.
It’ll save us points (it possibly already has), and it will inevitably lose us points, the same as any other team. But the system needs yet more reform so it works for the benefit of the game, rather than continue causing these embarrassing fiascos which aren’t the reason any of us go to matches.
Ben McKevitt says…
So far, we’ve been blessed as Sunderland fans during our brief encounters with VAR, and while that’s been very nice to avail of on a personal level, I still think the overall system is a stain on the game in its current iteration.
One must only cast your eyes on any episode of Match of the Day over the last few seasons to see that the vast majority of the running time is taken up by discussions around VAR decisions, refereeing incompetence and the fallout surrounding it all. Football should be about the football, not about the referee, and right now they get their own sections for each game!
Of course, before VAR, there was still discussion about decisions and their outcomes, but never has the overall discourse around football been so engulfed in the minutiae of rules, millimetres and inconsistency. The in-stadium experience is terrible and the flow of the game is often broken up — goals can’t be celebrated and every touch of a ball is scrutinised into oblivion seemingly in the hope of ruling out a goal.
We’ll get decisions in our favour and against us throughout the season, and if those operating VAR could do it effectively, I’d be in favour of keeping it,but they can’t, so what’s the point? Make the wrong decisions with the technology and waste everyone’s time, or make the wrong decisions without the technology and return to a faster flowing game.
Overall, I’d love to scrap VAR while keeping the semi-automated offside technology, as at least the referees can’t get involved there.
Ciaran McKenna says…
I’ve never been a big fan of VAR, but I don’t necessarily want it to be done away with.
I understand how it can help the game, as we’ve been left furious with referees for making bad decisions in the past, which VAR could have helped us with, and I’m also aware that we’ve been fortunate with VAR recently, during the playoff final and against Brentford.
To be honest, I don’t think we’ll get a better result from VAR than against Brentford — their goal being disallowed and then the double celebration for Wilson Isidor’s winner.
However, there are also negatives. When Isidor scored, the stadium was bouncing and the atmosphere was great, but I felt we didn’t go as mental as we could have, afraid that it might’ve been ripped away from us in the most painful fashion.
Hopefully we’ll continue our good fortune with VAR, but I feel it’s inevitable that at some point, it won’t go our way. If that happens, we’ll have to think of the times it went for us and accept that it’ll balance itself out over the course of the season.
Ian Bendelow says…
To sum up VAR, I hate it. Always have, always will.
It at best tempers the pure unfettered joy we feel on scoring a goal (see to an extent, Wilson Isidor’s winner), and at worst completely removes it all together.
There are no circumstances where I think it would be a good thing. And yes, I know, without it we probably wouldn’t be playing Premier League football. Although let’s be honest: years ago, we didn’t think “Brilliant, that goal Sheffield United are going to score in half a decade will be disallowed. What a great moment this is for our football club” — nor have any of my Premier League-supporting pals said it’s a good thing.
It was designed to allow for more correct decisions to be made and for the controversy to be taken out of mistakes. However, what we’ve got is officials using it as a crutch to not take decisions. It’s like when you want to know what the weather forecast is: the best way is to stick your head out of the window, not look at your weather app.
Sunderland have been beneficiaries so far, but we all know that at some point this season, it’ll change. It might be in two weeks; it might be against the Mags, or it might be in a European competition decider (am I joking? You decide).
There’s no doubt we’ll be on the receiving end of something we perceive to be an injustice, because it’s not about whether a decision is right but whether a decision has been interpreted correctly as per the latest guidance. See Saturday at Stamford Bridge, for example. Did anyone seriously believe Fulham’s goal should’ve been ruled out?
Scott Parker was right — it sterilises the game. Many times in the lower leagues, we had goals go against us which shouldn’t have counted. Did I once think “I wish there was VAR?” No.
And you know, getting angry about things in football is okay, as long as it’s in context and moderation.
A bit like those people who paint roundabouts with the St George’s Cross just to get all het up about it being removed, the burning sense of injustice about a wrong decision can be quite a seductive feeling…just not when it’s as a result of VAR.
John Wilson says…
Every single sport has a version of VAR: cricket, rugby. tennis etc, so it’s here to stay. What needs to be sorted out are the exact rules, so those observing a replay know exactly what they’re looking for.
Sometimes it’s the rules that need to be altered. The current offside rule where you can be crossing the line (literally) with your big toe, isn’t what the offside rule was introduced for, and the current handball rule is crazy.
Then you have interpretations by observers that make you think they could never have played the game themselves. Helping the referees with ‘clear and obvious errors’ isn’t always adhered to, so it’s the humans in the hut that need their heads shaking sometimes, and not the technology.
For sure, the holding back of a huge shout of joy just in case ‘ VAR Goal Check’ flashes on the screen is a negative aspect.
It’s served us well so far, and there’ll be decisions where we think the world is against us, but that’ll be human error more than technology. There’s nothing more annoying than people looking at a replay over and over again, and still get it wrong, but that’s life I guess, and not everyone likes Paddy Roberts!
Jonny Hawley says…
Video technology is a tool.
I’m beyond sick of hearing people complaining about VAR mistakes as if it’s just some inherent aspect of using technology — which it categorically isn’t.
VAR, like any tool, is only as useful as the people that wield it. Which unfortunately for us means this tool is only as useful as the tools — sorry — the referees at PGMOL.
It’s not the cameras’ fault that some prat behind a screen decided that Fulham’s perfectly legitimate goal should be chalked off. It’s the prat behind the screen’s fault!
We all whinge when decisions don’t go our way, and of course it’s extra galling when the decision seems wrong and they’ve had the chance to check it, then still come to the wrong decision. It’ll do all our heads in at times this season.
But would we rather have gone 2-0 down at Wembley? Would we be happier seeing penalties given for non-existent fouls (cough, Leon Osman tripping over a crisp packet, cough) or offsides being wrong by several metres? I know I wouldn’t.
