VAR...now demanded by some

True, that one should've been a red but these things happen. In recent weeks in the Prem, players have been wrongly sent off after it's been looked at for about 27 minutes by VAR!

Spoils the game to the point I've barely watched top level football since its introduction. Part of football is raging at the injustice of a decision over a few pints with your mates. VAR is still subjective, it isn't always clear cut and a matter of opinion. It spoils the moment, even if a goal is given for your side as you're anxiously waiting on a decision minutes later. It's ruined the game, well that and the fact I haven't seen a cross for about five years and the game bores me to death now at that level.

Quoted from Abdul19

True, that one should've been a red but these things happen. In recent weeks in the Prem, players have been wrongly sent off after it's been looked at for about 27 minutes by VAR!

That's human error then not technology 😉. At least for me it minimises mistakes on the whole for the better of the game. Give it time and I think most will come to accept it.

The problem with VAR in football it’s only used to correct a refereeing error. In rugby league referees can refer decisions themselves when they are not 100% sure.

It means in football the referee is undermined constantly and in rugby the referee keeps the authority at all times.

And the clear and obvious error thing is a joke. It’s either a foul or it’s not. If it’s a foul it’s a penalty. If it’s not a foul it’s not a penalty.

Also, the referee should always look at the incident him/herself and make the final decision.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

The problem with VAR in football it’s only used to correct a refereeing error. In rugby league referees can refer decisions themselves when they are not 100% sure.

It means in football the referee is undermined constantly and in rugby the referee keeps the authority at all times.

And the clear and obvious error thing is a joke. It’s either a foul or it’s not. If it’s a foul it’s a penalty. If it’s not a foul it’s not a penalty.

Also, the referee should always look at the incident him/herself and make the final decision.

That should be the only application of it in my opinion.
In its current for it is just a bloody joke. Refs are all miles up so it’s dead easy for them to say “can I get a look at that”. Otherwise you might as well not bother having a ref on the pitch at all.
Other cheating can get done retrospectively as you win some lose some there.
Goal line technology is absolutely fine as it’s instantaneous and doesn’t stop the flow of the game at all.

Talking about VAR what about the ref ?

He was suspended for taking the micky out of a disabled person and before you know it he has got a Wembley game.

Granted it was only Morecambe v Newport but there must have been a few refs not happy that he got the job.


PS. Might have to go back in hospital again legs lungs are filling up with fluid again.

The current offside rule doesn't work with VAR as it's stacked in favour of the defenders.

They should change it so that if any part of the player that can play the ball is onside, then the player is onside.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Talking about VAR what about the ref ?

He was suspended for taking the micky out of a disabled person and before you know it he has got a Wembley game.

Granted it was only Morecambe v Newport but there must have been a few refs not happy that he got the job.


PS. Might have to go back in hospital again legs lungs are filling up with fluid again.

Sorry to hear that Pete, get well soon mate.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Talking about VAR what about the ref ?

He was suspended for taking the micky out of a disabled person and before you know it he has got a Wembley game.

Granted it was only Morecambe v Newport but there must have been a few refs not happy that he got the job.


PS. Might have to go back in hospital again legs lungs are filling up with fluid again.

Hope you start feeling better soon.

Even with VAR, technology isn’t making the decisions. Humans are.

You have humans interpreting moments that are slowed down so they have a second chance at applying the correct rules. But even when some incidents are slowed down, they remain inconclusive but a decision has to be made... and that creates debate.

Debate will never go away, with or without VAR.

I heard Martyn Tyler say on commentary once, VAR takes away more than it adds. I think that’ll always be the case.

To put this in some kind of perspective, if for example Town lost a playoff final on a bad refereeing decision, I would certainly moan about it but I don’t think I’d ever demand VAR. While it might have overturned and solved an isolated incident in our favour at that time, I’m more concerned about the long term effect it’ll have.

It’s bad enough celebrating a goal and then two seconds later noticing the linesman’s flag raised in the corner of your eye. I don’t think I could cope celebrating a goal only to be told to wait and then literally minutes later to be told it’s disallowed.

The sport belongs to the people, not the TV companies, or the betting companies, or even the armchair fans. Football, without fans in the ground (as we have seen) is not the same. Its soul is missing.

I appreciate the benefits that VAR can bring but in my opinion it’ll never be free of controversy because of the fact it’s operated by humans.

If we could somehow get ex-players to become referees, I think that’d improve standards, but that seems destined to never happen.

Also, I’ll just add, technology is great for things like goal line decisions, which aren’t open to interpretation. Offsides, in theory, shouldn’t be open to interpretation either but they are because of many reasons, like the pace of the game, identifying the correct moment the ball is played, applying accurate lines to the screen, understanding what part of the body is supposedly offside, etc.

In conclusion: use tech for the black and white decisions. That’s as far as I’d take it.

And one more thing- I think pundits also have a responsibility here. They each bemoan lack of consistency in officials, yet each week they seem to change their minds on what’s a foul/penalty/red card, and what’s not.

Alan Shearer is the worst culprit, I’ve noticed. One week he agrees with a robust challenge, saying it’s hard but fair, and it’s a contact sport, and the ref got the red card wrong. Next week, similar challenge and he and Danny Murphy agree it’s a red card and ‘you just can’t make challenges like that in the modern game now’.

This annoys me as much as anything. All pundits do it. Someone should analyse them. They get a free hit on this.