VAR is Killing Football

18th March 2024 - “Give me five minutes to check whether this is clear and obvious”

I’m writing this whilst watching the Villa game. It was a kind of personal challenge to take some notes during the game to make sure I’m honest about the performance regardless of the result. We’ve continued on from our 5-0 win in Europe with a bit of a pep in our step, It’s the 48th minute, we’re currently 1-0 up and deservedly so.

A couple of things have sprung to mind as I’m watching Antonio’s second goal being ruled out - namely the fact that I can’t remember another time in my life that I’ve seen this many handball decisions in the space of a few weeks.

Firstly was the one away to Freiburg. Last kick of the game, the ball definitely hit his hand, the VAR team deemed it a penalty but the ref came over to the monitor and disagreed. That one in particular did my head in and not so much due to the outcome, but more so the madness that is VAR and the time it took to assess things.

One thing I’ll never understand is if a team of refs in a silent room with no outside influence can make a decision from the video footage, why would they then pass it back to the on field referee for the final say, given they’ve had the opposite, with players in their ear and fans getting on their backs whilst they wait to head over to the monitor. It literally turns it into a more biased decision. Furthermore, if the mistake is clear and obvious, surely by definition it doesn’t need a third or fourth opinion.

Next was the one against Burnley. Once again, last minute of the game and their player basically caught the ball with both hands. If that’s not handball then I don’t know what is. The worst part of that one was the fact that it wasn’t even reviewed. Well at least I don’t think so? It seemed the final whistle was blown and they used that as a get out of jail free card. Due to the lack of review, it wasn’t even really discussed, so as is often the case, no-one could even be assessed for accountability.

In the current game alone, there has been a contentious decision not given against Emerson in the first half, which I felt was a clear handball and now Antonio’s disallowed goal which was deemed to have gone in off his arm. I personally don’t know where to stand on things. I’m not sure how everyone else feels, but it all seems very subjective to me, I obviously no longer understand the rules.

Combine the handballs with the offside decisions that have gone against us recently and I just can’t help but highlight how much I hate VAR. If it were more transparent and decisions weren’t as subjective I’d be all for it, but there are simply too many flashpoints. It’s simple for me. Anything clear and obvious shouldn’t take more than a minute to determine. Longer than that and it’s clearly not obvious!

Back to the Villa game and it’s now 1-1. Emery brought on Diaby and Matty Cash and they’ve dominated down the right hand side. Another if their subs, Zaniolo has equalised for them. One of those Emery qualities where he changes things at the right time. We were on top, but the energy of their subs has turned the game in their favour in the latter stages. They’ve brought on attacking players and we’ve gone with Ben Johnson, Ward Prowse and Cresswell. We’ll be lucky to get a draw from this now. It’s all become very scrappy and the ref’s losing control, handing out yellow cards. Alvarez has been booked and is now out for our next two games.

We’re in the last few minutes and it’s all happening. Against the run of play, Kudus and Bowen linked up to cut the ball back for Ward Prowse who, as has become a bit of a trend, fails to convert a fairly easy opportunity.

Now the ref has bottled it and refused a second yellow for Zaniolo who quite obviously threw the ball away. Should you send a player off for this? I’d prefer not. But the rule is clear and yet the ref has chosen to disregard it in this instance. Why? Who knows. I guess just because he can. He feels like bending the rules for this particular scenario. Once again, consistency or a lack thereof undermines the rules of the game.

For some further context - the official is Jarred Gillett, an Australian referee who I witnessed making howlers when the A-League were early adopters of VAR in 2017. He then joined the Premier League on the premise that he was a VAR specialist and has continued his form with multiple controversial decisions since. Needless to say, I’m not a fan.

Oh and now we’re about to have another one ruled out for handball again. I’d say you couldn’t make this up, but it seems that’s exactly what’s happening here. A winning goal in the 95th minute, or is it? The players celebrated but VAR has other ideas… And it’s ruled out! This took them at least five minutes and watching it back, Soucek clearly grabbed a defenders shirt in the build up, so it should’ve taken less than a minute. Either way. we’re now beyond the 100 minute mark (7mins of added time were given due to the earlier VAR controversy) and it’s taken the sting out of the game completely. Fans are looking on from the stands, completely confused and bemused by the whole ordeal.

Ok, so the game ends 1-1.

I think that’s a fair result in the end. The disallowed goals are hard to swallow especially the second one that late in the game, but the decisions look correct and we performed well, so I’ll take that.

Let’s discuss VAR some more shall we? I actually think it’s very simple. We are supposed to be seeing reviews of clear and obvious errors. If the images are inconclusive then the on field decision needs to stand. So long as the decisions in question are subjectively assessed, it can take all day and you’ll never get 100% agreement. It’s nearly impossible to conclusively assess intent through VAR, so I have to question it’s use.

There are some things in football which work incredibly. Goal line technology for instance. It’s so simple and so effective. Similar to this is…. well actually nothing.

Other than goal line technology, there isn’t a single decision that VAR can conclusively get right for every scenario. You may think offside is one that can be conclusively decided, but that’s simply not the case. Lines need to be drawn and human error is unavoidable so long as it’s required. So what’s the solution? Well in my eyes, it’s about turning these things into binary decisions. So long as you need to assess different variables, it will take too long and remain subjective.

I’m gonna throw out a couple of ideas on how things could be improved.

OFFSIDES

For offsides I feel you actually need to change the rule. This would be achieved in three parts. Firstly, offsides should be determined by the position of the players feet, that way there’s no drawing of lines from shoulders to the ground etc. I mean if we’re honest, the offside rule was created to prevent goal hanging and then implemented further to prevent players getting an unfair advantage. If my shoulder is a blade of grass ahead of your hip, does that really constitute an advantage?

Secondly, do away with the drawing of multiple lines. Technology exists that would allow a grid to be applied to every premier league pitch. The money in the Premier League and prize money that clubs may win or lose from these contentious decisions, make it an issue worth spending money on to resolve.

Thirdly and finally, don’t zoom in! This one is simple. Why are they zooming in to the point that everything becomes so pixelated and blurred that the picture becomes almost unusable. If the naked eye can’t detect an offside then any supposed advantage is inconsequential. We’re at the point where we’re trying to microscopically analyse a players movements during a game that people ultimately play and watch for entertainment. We want to see goals, so why are we allowing referees and footballs governing bodies to kill football as a product, when there is simply no gain, except for the fact that referees seem to get a kick out of it!

Combine the three steps above and it becomes simple. “Hmm, it’s close this one, is he offside, I don’t know?”, Ok then it’s too close to call, so onside it is. We’d see more goals and quicker decisions.

RED CARDS and GOALS (and everything in between).

These should be assessed with the same focus on the term “clear and obvious”. The key here is to turn a non binary decision into a binary one and by that I mean a contentious decision with multiple factors into a yes/no or for/against.

The solution for this would be to have a panel of referees and possibly trained ex players (these could be specialised positions where ex players need to do VAR courses to be eligible) to assess a decision in a pre determined time frame and vote on it.

So imagine for instance a scenario like the Areola penalty decision against Sheffield United. The initial VAR team raises the question, “Is it a penalty?” and the panel then have 90 seconds to watch back the footage and vote. Have an odd number on the panel and you’ll always get a conclusive outcome. That way, there needs to be a majority consensus on the decision. If anyone fails to decide within the 90 second period, the on field decision remains as the lack of ability to decide would mean that any error is not clear and obvious.

In this case, you will get some wrong decisions, but it will increase the focus on the more obvious scenarios and make it more fair, whilst also speeding up the game. In my opinion, it’s an acceptable trade off for these unreasonable five minute stoppages in play that kill all momentum time and time again.

Look, ultimately I just want football to return to its intended purpose. Competition and entertainment. VAR has become more of a talking point than the players and teams and their achievements. It’s interrupted and overshadowed so many games and it’s genuinely killing my love for football.

I’m sure I’m not alone in that I’ve never liked referees and it seems recently they’re the ones getting the most airtime. The only thing that seems clear and obvious to me is that they love the focus and attention being on them, their interpretations of the rules and their decisions. Maybe that’s something the Premier League should analyse and do a deep dive into. If there’s one thing that actually needs to be reviewed, it’s VAR.