VAR was supposed to catch ‘clear and obvious’ errors but if they have to replay an incident a dozen times at super slow speed then it can’t be clear and obvious. They ain’t going to get rid of it so, for me, the best changes they can make are 1: to get rid of the pitch side monitor. The refs never stick with their on field decision so they might as well have VAR just tell them to change it and cut out the 3 or 4 minute pantomime of him going over into the monitor then drawing a box in the air. 2: have a time limit on how long they can take to make the decision. If you cannot decide within a minute then it’s not clear or obvious.
VAR never considers weather conditions like heavy rain providing slippy conditons etc. Most good refs will do that. Get rid of VAR now before the game is reduced to sterilised rubbish.
I say this with full respect to our own fans (who are obviously a tasteful and discerning bunch) but if you look on wider social media, such as the cesspit that is reddit, you will notice a particular demographic that DOES expect and demand objectively perfect decisions and genuinely doesn’t care how long that takes.
Of course, this is a demographic that has been raised on sports that stop for an ad break every 15 seconds and where a 60 minute game lasts over 3 hours…
The fact that objective perfection isn’t possible escapes them - and, unfortunately, it seems that the international TV audience is now more important to the powers that be than we unfortunate mugs who spend thousands each year schlepping up and down the country to watch in person.
Couldn't agree more. With respect to decisions such as offsides, I actually think the Linos have been getting better to be honest. When they've made calls in games I'm watching from the stands or on TV, their calls are invariably spot on when I've been proved wrong. The referees are now in a lose-lose situation though and when you have a bloke at the top who was completely incapable of making an on-field decision during his time on the tools, I pity the poor bastards. PSR & VAR in the bin.
Here’s a thought? Was refereeing better 50, 60 or even 100 years ago because refs knew they had to be concentrating on the game and actually gave a shit? Unlike now where they can say “oh no bother - someone will have seen that elbow.”
Ace. This article got better and better throughout, and by the end I just thought: "Perfect, spot on!". Not that it hadn't started with a blast too - the genius of the phrase "when actually they’re sitting in a bedsit in Bensham in their pyjamas having just shit themselves" took me back to my days on Faraday Grove in the naughties and 90s where fortunately that did NOT happen to me (too often). One flaw - I say also get rid of the fourth official as well and go two linos and a ref only, as the fourth official was the beginning of the erosion of the ref's control and started all this nonsense. Also no more substitutes. An independant doctor gives a judgement call on if a player should be allowed to be replaced. The game is 11v11, not who has the biggest squad.
VAR is and was always going to be a poisoned chalice, supposedly to support the referee and make the game fairer and consistent for everyone. However, in reality it has done the complete opposite of this, with referees either afraid to make decisions (and letting VAR pick it up), changing their mind based on subjective replays while at the same time having to live with the constant scrutiny of fans, pundits and the cat's mother if heaven forbid they make a mistake. I do wonder how much this last point really comes into play during certain matches and the vitriol that will come their way, especially from those clubs who I don't need to name specifically. Could this pressure have influence on decision making, part of me feels like it does.
On top of this you have the issue about VAR intervening in incidents that clearly are not 'clear and obvious', combined with the ongoing inconsistencies on rules being applied (or not) and seemingly dubious decisions that crop up on a regular basis. No wonder managers and fans get frustrated and I'm pretty sure the match day officials get this way too.
Issues with video referees and not just limited to football, our traitorous cousins in the US of A have similar issues with NFL games, so it's nothing new and quite predictable that our beautiful game would have the same challenges.
How to rectify it? Either go back to basics with just the match day officials only or very specifically define what and how VAR can do, it feels like their their has been encroachment and expansion of what, where and how VAR is applied. Who can say whether this is be by accident or design given the apparent skulduggery going on....either way the current method is clearly not working for (most) clubs or fans. Just like VAR, money from TV is another poisoned chalice and quite perhaps a much larger issue that permeates and corrupts the game from top to bottom....however will leave that for another time.
Like everything in life, the simpler the better and aiming for some panacea of perfection tends to land somewhere far far away - deja vu?
Thanks for an entertaining read about VAR, Steve. Which is rather poignant, because VAR seems to be doing its best to destroy our enjoyment of the game. VAR may or may not be using some of the best camera technology in the world. But surely that has FAIL written all over it when you then have to rely on someone making judgement on something he has or hasn’t seen on a monitor. And as we all know, that judgement isn’t necessarily the right one. Get rid of it… please!
It would also make a huge difference to the way the game is refereed if the players could adopt the professional attitude of other sports (rugby for instance) and accept decisions and get on with the match instead of hurling abuse at the officials. I wouldn't be a football ref even if you offered me a king's ransom.
VAR in principalis a good idea ( just like Brexit) however again just like Brexit the problem is how its being used> I would propose a switch to a rugby type system where its only used when the ref stops the game and asks for a check that he and he alone looks at and makes his mind up from that. The semi automated offside seems to be working OK
VAR was supposed to catch ‘clear and obvious’ errors but if they have to replay an incident a dozen times at super slow speed then it can’t be clear and obvious. They ain’t going to get rid of it so, for me, the best changes they can make are 1: to get rid of the pitch side monitor. The refs never stick with their on field decision so they might as well have VAR just tell them to change it and cut out the 3 or 4 minute pantomime of him going over into the monitor then drawing a box in the air. 2: have a time limit on how long they can take to make the decision. If you cannot decide within a minute then it’s not clear or obvious.
100% this
Perfect.
VAR never considers weather conditions like heavy rain providing slippy conditons etc. Most good refs will do that. Get rid of VAR now before the game is reduced to sterilised rubbish.
I say this with full respect to our own fans (who are obviously a tasteful and discerning bunch) but if you look on wider social media, such as the cesspit that is reddit, you will notice a particular demographic that DOES expect and demand objectively perfect decisions and genuinely doesn’t care how long that takes.
Of course, this is a demographic that has been raised on sports that stop for an ad break every 15 seconds and where a 60 minute game lasts over 3 hours…
The fact that objective perfection isn’t possible escapes them - and, unfortunately, it seems that the international TV audience is now more important to the powers that be than we unfortunate mugs who spend thousands each year schlepping up and down the country to watch in person.
I would scrap VAR tomorrow, but it won’t happen.
Couldn't agree more. With respect to decisions such as offsides, I actually think the Linos have been getting better to be honest. When they've made calls in games I'm watching from the stands or on TV, their calls are invariably spot on when I've been proved wrong. The referees are now in a lose-lose situation though and when you have a bloke at the top who was completely incapable of making an on-field decision during his time on the tools, I pity the poor bastards. PSR & VAR in the bin.
The referee has one view at full pace. If there are to be reviews then they should be at full pace based on one view over a 30 second period.
Leave the lengthy debates to the studio buffoons who pose as football pundits.
Brilliant read.
Scrap VAR.
Here’s a thought? Was refereeing better 50, 60 or even 100 years ago because refs knew they had to be concentrating on the game and actually gave a shit? Unlike now where they can say “oh no bother - someone will have seen that elbow.”
Ace. This article got better and better throughout, and by the end I just thought: "Perfect, spot on!". Not that it hadn't started with a blast too - the genius of the phrase "when actually they’re sitting in a bedsit in Bensham in their pyjamas having just shit themselves" took me back to my days on Faraday Grove in the naughties and 90s where fortunately that did NOT happen to me (too often). One flaw - I say also get rid of the fourth official as well and go two linos and a ref only, as the fourth official was the beginning of the erosion of the ref's control and started all this nonsense. Also no more substitutes. An independant doctor gives a judgement call on if a player should be allowed to be replaced. The game is 11v11, not who has the biggest squad.
VAR is and was always going to be a poisoned chalice, supposedly to support the referee and make the game fairer and consistent for everyone. However, in reality it has done the complete opposite of this, with referees either afraid to make decisions (and letting VAR pick it up), changing their mind based on subjective replays while at the same time having to live with the constant scrutiny of fans, pundits and the cat's mother if heaven forbid they make a mistake. I do wonder how much this last point really comes into play during certain matches and the vitriol that will come their way, especially from those clubs who I don't need to name specifically. Could this pressure have influence on decision making, part of me feels like it does.
On top of this you have the issue about VAR intervening in incidents that clearly are not 'clear and obvious', combined with the ongoing inconsistencies on rules being applied (or not) and seemingly dubious decisions that crop up on a regular basis. No wonder managers and fans get frustrated and I'm pretty sure the match day officials get this way too.
Issues with video referees and not just limited to football, our traitorous cousins in the US of A have similar issues with NFL games, so it's nothing new and quite predictable that our beautiful game would have the same challenges.
How to rectify it? Either go back to basics with just the match day officials only or very specifically define what and how VAR can do, it feels like their their has been encroachment and expansion of what, where and how VAR is applied. Who can say whether this is be by accident or design given the apparent skulduggery going on....either way the current method is clearly not working for (most) clubs or fans. Just like VAR, money from TV is another poisoned chalice and quite perhaps a much larger issue that permeates and corrupts the game from top to bottom....however will leave that for another time.
Like everything in life, the simpler the better and aiming for some panacea of perfection tends to land somewhere far far away - deja vu?
Thanks for an entertaining read about VAR, Steve. Which is rather poignant, because VAR seems to be doing its best to destroy our enjoyment of the game. VAR may or may not be using some of the best camera technology in the world. But surely that has FAIL written all over it when you then have to rely on someone making judgement on something he has or hasn’t seen on a monitor. And as we all know, that judgement isn’t necessarily the right one. Get rid of it… please!
It would also make a huge difference to the way the game is refereed if the players could adopt the professional attitude of other sports (rugby for instance) and accept decisions and get on with the match instead of hurling abuse at the officials. I wouldn't be a football ref even if you offered me a king's ransom.
VAR in principalis a good idea ( just like Brexit) however again just like Brexit the problem is how its being used> I would propose a switch to a rugby type system where its only used when the ref stops the game and asks for a check that he and he alone looks at and makes his mind up from that. The semi automated offside seems to be working OK
"Football 2050: The Algorithm Derby"
Welcome to the future of football, where players are optional, and the real action happens in server rooms.
• Kick-off? Nah, just hit “Run Simulation.”
• VAR : Replaced by VAA—Virtual Argument Algorithm. It argues with itself for 20 minutes before deciding nothing happened.
• Transfers : AI scouts trade players based on their meme potential and TikTok engagement.
• Injuries : Only emotional ones—when your team’s win probability drops below 50%.
• Fans : Still shouting at screens, but now it’s at buffering and loss of signal
Final score
Newcastle United 2.3 – Mackems 0.1
I think we need VAR as the ridiculous penalty awarded to Liverpool (strange eh?) last night shows.
!00% agree with the comments of Dean Biggs above (or below I can't remember how this gets posted).
Clear and obvious is the key. Stop the re-reffing and let the game flow!