By Robbie Butler
I have written about VAR quite a bit on this website. I surprised myself in fact when I did a quick check. You can find previous posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. 11 in total - one for every player on the pitch!
I believe VAR is (or maybe now has) fundamentally changed the game, and not for the better. What we now have is not part of some VAR evolution, where mistakes are reduced over time, but rather the reality of what it will be going forward. And football withe VAR is becoming less and less for me.
I have written about VAR quite a bit on this website. I surprised myself in fact when I did a quick check. You can find previous posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. 11 in total - one for every player on the pitch!
I believe VAR is (or maybe now has) fundamentally changed the game, and not for the better. What we now have is not part of some VAR evolution, where mistakes are reduced over time, but rather the reality of what it will be going forward. And football withe VAR is becoming less and less for me.
As a Republic of Ireland supporter, I know the pain of referee mistakes and clear and obvious errors. The picture on the right is the famous Thierry Henry handball that helped eliminate Ireland from the 2010 World Cup. France beat the Irish 2-1 in a two-legged playoff to reach the Finals in South Africa.
Had VAR been in use, the goal scored by William Gallas following Henry's handball would have been ruled out, and Ireland may have gone on to win the playoff.
The defeat was painful, and Ireland have not reached the World Cup Finals since, and may not do so for some years, given current performances. My naive assumption was that the introduction of VAR would stop this sort of behaviour. It has, but it has also done so much more. Upon reflection, I am happier to accept errors like the picture above than allow VAR to intervene the way it currently does. Here is why.
Offside is now effectively ruined by VAR. The system use in England is arbitrary at times with marginal calls. Here is why I believe so.
I have yet to see a VAR dead heat. Given the number of VAR offside calls over the past number of years and the use of VAR in so many leagues, it is surely a statistical certainty that on at least one occasion, two players have been directly in line with one another - or VAR dead heated. The pictures below help illustrate this.
Had VAR been in use, the goal scored by William Gallas following Henry's handball would have been ruled out, and Ireland may have gone on to win the playoff.
The defeat was painful, and Ireland have not reached the World Cup Finals since, and may not do so for some years, given current performances. My naive assumption was that the introduction of VAR would stop this sort of behaviour. It has, but it has also done so much more. Upon reflection, I am happier to accept errors like the picture above than allow VAR to intervene the way it currently does. Here is why.
Offside is now effectively ruined by VAR. The system use in England is arbitrary at times with marginal calls. Here is why I believe so.
I have yet to see a VAR dead heat. Given the number of VAR offside calls over the past number of years and the use of VAR in so many leagues, it is surely a statistical certainty that on at least one occasion, two players have been directly in line with one another - or VAR dead heated. The pictures below help illustrate this.
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The two above are recent high-profile VAR calls between Arsenal and Spurs as well as Man Utd and Coventry. The picture below is a dead heat in horse racing.
Dead heats in horse racing are relatively rare but they do happen. I have no idea how often they occur but anecdotally you will hear about one a couple of times a year in this part of the world.
They same must be true of VAR calls. So where is the dead heat?
Dead heats in horse racing are relatively rare but they do happen. I have no idea how often they occur but anecdotally you will hear about one a couple of times a year in this part of the world.
They same must be true of VAR calls. So where is the dead heat?
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