Welcome to the VAR edition of the Change the Game blog. This is #3 in this limited series!
VAR (Video Assistant Referee) was introduced in the 2018 FIFA world cup and has since been brought into many leagues around the world to help the on-field referees with difficult decisions. Indeed, it has spurred on new tools for referees to use and has improved the rate of correct decisions in games, so then why is it that you keep seeing VAR in sports headlines across the world?
That is because the video assistant referee system may be one of the most unanimously hated aspects of the modern game. Some fans may have varying opinions on whether it should exist at all, or what form it should be, but in general I think all of us can agree: something needs to change.
The way VAR currently works tends to leave fans in a soccer purgatory; every time a goal is scored instead of the instant jumping out of their seat in ecstasy there is a moment of waiting for the referee to raise his flag for an offside review. The simple fact that VAR has the capability to go back several passes puts almost every goal in jeopardy of being overturned via the video assistant. Often it seems that the offside can be almost be completely inconsequential to the goal, yet the goal is ruled out.
The other prominent issue I see with VAR is that it does not do what it was introduced to do, which is remove some of the impreciseness and help the referee make decisions objectivity. The intention of introducing the video assistant does have some validity, however when we are dealing with decisions that necessitate objectivity, I do not think the video assistant can offer much more than the on-field referees. The situations that VAR is unanimously useful for involve those laws that can be seen clearly on replay like if a foul occurred inside or outside the box, if a goal was scored with a hand, or any other black and white decisions. This of course requires that there be a clear and concise laws. For example, with hand ball if there is any implication that intent should be considered then VAR is not a good candidate. Would a slow-motion replay allow you to read his mind? As far as I am aware that tech will not be available until at least the next smart phone OS updates.
Given the problems we have discussed thus far, what are the options we have with VAR? I believe there are two paths; first, we could do away with VAR all together and second, we could make some adjustments or reductions to the purview of VAR. The first option would indeed rid fans of the issues associated with VAR, but I believe that completely removing it represents a step backward for the sport in terms of officiating. With some adjustments to the mechanics of the video assistant referee system I believe we can make it worth keeping around.
There are many options for how VAR will work. Let’s break down a few groups of changes to be discussed as a whole, because often with these adjustments one change necessitates another.
Here is a Good Accumulation of the VAR decisions over the last few seasons.
In part 2 of this blog we will go through the options that have been most mentioned when discussing VAR.