The implementation of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in football was greeted with a mix of optimism and scepticism. Its promise was to be the unseen guardian of fairness, ensuring that clear and obvious errors were corrected. However, recent events suggest that VAR is veering off course, threatening the very soul of the game it was meant to protect.
Consider the incident involving Daizen Maeda in Madrid. Here was a challenge that, in the pre-VAR era, would have likely passed without a second glance. Yet, with the intervention of technology, the action was dissected in excruciating slow motion, ultimately leading to a decision that has sparked outrage and debate. The question arises: if an incident requires such granular analysis to be deemed a foul, is the spirit of the game being compromised?
The essence of football lies in its flow, its uninterrupted rhythm, and the raw emotions it invokes. The excessive reliance on VAR threatens to transform referees from arbiters to technocrats, poring over freeze-frames to make decisions that were once made in the blink of an eye. This was never more apparent than in the recent Spurs vs. Chelsea match, where the fluid dance of football was interrupted by the jarring stop-start rhythm of technology’s overreach.
The Rashford incident in Copenhagen is yet another example of VAR’s encroachment, where decisions are increasingly made in the sterile environment of a video room rather than the living arena of the pitch. This is not the future that fans, players, or purists envisioned.
The fear now is that we are sliding down a slippery slope, where the referee’s whistle is less a signal of authority and more a pause button, awaiting confirmation from an off-field observer.
There is no doubt that ensuring fairness is paramount, but not at the cost of the game’s identity. Football is not just about getting every decision microscopically right; it’s about pace, passion, and spontaneity. As it stands, VAR is not just assisting referees; it’s reshaping the nature of their role, and not for the better.
The genie, indeed, is out of the bottle. The challenge now is to recalibrate the use of VAR, to find a balance where technology serves the game, not rules it. It’s a delicate balance, one that requires acknowledging that the pursuit of perfection should not destroy the imperfect joy that is football. We must strive for a future where technology is a silent partner, not an overbearing overseer, so that football can remain the beautiful game we all cherish.
I was all for the introduction of VAR. Until it became clear that those officials operating VAR, would come from the same pool of cheating bassas, that hobble us on a weekly basis, while giving the Huns their usual helping hand. We should cease funding this farce.
Hail Hail.