VAR, many love it and many loathe it but I just can’t quite make my mind up about it. I believe that it’s here for the better and here for the worse.
During the 2015-16 Premier League season I can recall watching Arsenal play Liverpool in a controversial winner-takes-all game when, with eight minutes left, Aaron Ramsey had a goal disallowed for offside.
It could have been the matchwinning goal for Arsenal, but instead they drew 0-0. For myself, as a biased Arsenal fan, and many neutrals there was a feeling that the goal should’ve counted as Ramsey was not beyond the last Liverpool defender before or during the lead up to his strike.
Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was adamant that his midfielder was onside – a view that was supported by the post-match media via their own technologies. If VAR had existed, with the referee choosing to use it, the goal may have just stood with it being 1-0 to The Arsenal come the full-time whistle!
After the incident, Ramsey – who should’ve been hero of the night – screamed for the introduction of video replay footage for referees to be able to use and analyse during such events, like in rugby and other sports.
His wish was eventually granted but not until four seasons later for the 2019-20 Premier League campaign. England’s top-flight was late to the party considering Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s LaLiga and Germany’s Bundesliga had already been maximising upon the technology for two campaigns prior.
VAR controversies straight away in the Premier League
VAR was heralded to be the technology of the future which would solve all crises of the game on the field, but it has arguably at times created more problems on and off of it.
By the fourth Premier League game weekend of the 2019-20 season VAR had influenced four wrong crucial decisions in games. The first was a penalty appeal on David Silva against Bournemouth after the Spaniard was taken down in the box during Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth which was not awarded.
The second was Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans who should’ve been sent off for a challenge on Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson but wasn’t.
Thirdly, West Ham should’ve been awarded a penalty against Norwich after Sebastian Haller was fouled.
Lastly – and most importantly – an Isaac Success handball which was committed in the lead up to Newcastle’s game-changing equaliser against Watford was dismissed all so wrongly.
Despite VAR’s mishaps many antagonists forget to mention the fortunes of it which arguably helped England reach the Euros 2020 final, courtesy of their semi-final win over Denmark.
With only five minutes left of extra-time – and the scoreline 1-1, England took the lead after Harry Kane scored the rebound from his saved penalty. The spot-kick was awarded after Raheem Sterling was supposedly fouled by Joakim Maehle but only as the referee was unsure of the challenge before using VAR to his full advantage. Without it would England have featured in the final of the competition had the occasion gone to penalties?
VAR is here to stay despite fans’ wishes
After a survey was conducted following VAR’s first full outing in British football in June 2020 by YouGov, only a third of Premier League fans were in favour of it meaning that the majority were unsure of it or were completely against the concept of using it.
Whether football fans are for or against it I personally feel that it can take away the excitement of the game and unpredictability of it when referees have to make quick-thinking decisions within seconds in order to not delay the game to please the flow of it. Yet, on the upper hand, there are a number of occasions as a fan and viewer when I’ve felt that it certainly has been revolutionary, like that semi-final moment in Euro 2020 which allowed England to reach the final of a major competition in over 50 years.
If football was to eradicate VAR they would not be doing themselves any justice at all in terms of advancements in a time dictated to by technology. At the end of the day though it is also a game massively influenced by the fans whose opinion must be reckoned with by all top footballing authorities.
However, that’s a matter for another time…
By Liam Harding
