Football News: VAR and why it is so close to being right

VAR has definitely had its ups and downs with more downs then ups. However, I do believe it is very close to benefitting the sport we all love.

Firstly the faults; the issue for me is there is no limit to how many times it can be used within a game. As an example, refs can use it as a comfort blanket rather than an aid to check a decision and every time a decision is made they can ask the VAR to clarify or confirm their decision and that is not what VAR is designed for.

VAR should only be used when the ref isn't confident he can make the correct call between himself and his linesman. If a ref needs it to check every call then maybe they are not confident enough to officiate games in the first place.

Then there is the issue of fans not knowing what's going on, but that seems like FIFA are hoping to rectify during the 2018 World Cup with large screens explaining the process. This will help massively and I believe will lend tension to the sport whilst fans wait for the decision to be made.

Another perceived fault is that it can't make a correct call 100% of the time. Unfortunately that is the nature of football and some rules are open to interpretation i.e. handballs and now even offsides. Some decisions could be shown to 2 highly respected refs and they would both have different interpretations.

But despite all of the above, I feel VAR is one decision away from being an aid and a benefit to football and that is making it a review system. Rather than referees deciding when a decision needs reviewing, let the captain of each side have one a half. The game then carries on as normal and the captains can have a clear signal to show that they intend to review.

This limits the stoppages within a match and allows the fans to be aware of what is going on. It stops it being used every 5 minutes and also should help the crowding around referees which seems to have slowly crept back in the game.

VAR is here to stay whether we like it or not, but I honestly believe tweaking it to a review system may be the solution the system needs.

Article written by WYred

Written by WYred March 07 2018 12:03:01