VAR promised certainty but has only delivered noise and confusion

By James Andrew
published

VAR has not delivered the way it promised it would with too many mistakes still happening

VAR
Debate and controversy has not gone from football despite the introduction of VAR (Image credit: Getty Images)

When VAR was introduced it was done so under the idea that it removes the capacity for human error and it is difficult to argue against that. 

I don’t think there is a player, manager or fan in the land that would want a system whereby the correct decisions were made all the time and there was no scope for human error. 

And that is why it is so incredibly frustrating when clear and obvious mistakes are made by VAR and they are then blamed on the very thing that this was brought in to eradicate - ‘human error’. 

And the truth is that even when VAR does work it is still subjective as it is one person’s interpretation of where to draw the lines for an offside decision and the frame rate means that it is essentially just a best guess. 

Referee

Referees checking pitch side monitors has become part of the game (Image credit: Getty Images)

While I don’t think anyone would argue that the percentage of correct decisions has risen but that is not the point, the point is that it has come at the cost of disrupting the rhythm of the game - something football relies on - and then when mistakes are made then they seem worse because we were told that this is exactly what VAR was brought in to get rid of.

Even goal line technology, which was universally welcomed and has improved that part of the game, has fallen foul to mistakes.

Aston Villa may be riding high under Unai Emery both domestically and in Europe but a sliding doors moment could have seen them playing the likes of Plymouth and Rotherham if the technology had been working correctly for the ‘goal’ scored by Sheffield United’s Ollie Norwood back in 2020.

Villa got a point from the game and then ended up surviving by a single point. Bringing in technology to eradicate human error makes sense, but there is too much money in football for that technology to fail.

My feeling at the moment is that we are one major mistake away from a match or even a title being decided in a courtroom and not on the pitch.

And there will not be a player, manager or fan who wants to see that. As it stands VAR has not lived up to its promise and should therefore be scrapped.

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James Andrew
James Andrew
Editor

James Andrew is the editor of FourFourTwo, overseeing both the magazine and website. James is an NCTJ qualified journalist and began his career as a news reporter in regional newspapers in 2006 before moving into sport a year later. In 2011 he started a six year stint on the sports desk at the Daily Mail and MailOnline. James was appointed editor of FourFourTwo in December 2019. Across his career James has interviewed the likes of Franco Baresi, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham and Michael Owen. James has been a Fulham season ticket holder since the mid-1990s and enjoys watching them home and away, through promotion and relegation.