Why VAR shouldn’t be used in football

Since the second half of the 20th century, most parts of Earth have been moulded and restructured by the technological revolution that has been taking place and the world of sports has not been an exception. After the successful implementation of goal-line technology the newest product in the market that is trying to reshape the football we know today is Video Assistant Referee(VAR). FIFA’s decision to implement VAR in the 2018 World Cup was supposedly a big hit. Statistics tell us that VAR is 99.3% accurate and its use has lowered the number of errors made by refs in the game-changing moments. However, a step towards accuracy in decision making has involved the sacrifice of the dramatic element of football and often leaves fans confused with what’s going on in the ground.

A lot of people ask why is football so famous? The answer is simple: Passion! Passion, that drives the fans crazy about the sport. Passion, that makes the next generation of footballers better than the previous one. Passion, that creates debate and controversy over every dodgy decision. Passion, that makes football a beautiful game. A key element that composes passion is the element of emotion. Unlike other sports such as tennis, cricket, and rugby where technology has been implemented to achieve perfection in the accuracy of decision-making, Football is a very emotional sport which subconsciously involves the fans so much that it makes one believe that they are an integrated part the game in hand. What VAR does is use the accuracy of a machine to vanquish the humane aspect of it thereby destroying with it all the emotion that follows which fundamentally kills the passion for the sport.

“Football is about emotion, it’s a context of emotion and if we are going to kill emotion in football, I think the fans of people who love football are not so happy about what they see today.” Mauricio Pochettino on VAR.

Popular YouTube football analyst and presenter at the United Stand, Mark Goldbridge believes VAR will be cynical towards the tradition of the game that has been upheld since the invention of the sport. He argues that football is an opinionated sport which involves the fans, and by bringing into force VAR, it will kill the spirit of the game. Arguing with a rival fan about a dodgy offside decision at a game-defining moment instils an emotion of passion which adds to the beauty of the game, he says.

If one goes back in time and observes the history of the sport, he/she will find out that the greatest moments of the sport have some controversial decision involved. Whether it is Maradona’s Hand of God, Zidane’s headbutt or Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany, the common denominator is these historical moments of the sport are considered great and remembered till date is because of the controversy this spark ignited and had VAR been there, these incidents would have been sorted immediately. One might argue that football would have been better if these incidents had never happened in the first place but that’s where they are wrong. Had it not been for moments like this, football would not have received the fame and recognition it enjoys today.

Moreover, the entire process of reviewing a decision with VAR is relatively lengthy and takes up a whole 1.5 to 2 minutes. Not only does this reduce the absolute match time but as we know football is a very fast-moving game without many stops and what VAR does is it disrupts the flow of the game. And in the meantime, while the review is happening, it leaves spectators in the stadium confused and guessing as there are no screens to show the review.

Another aspect of the game that is cunningly glamorous is the art of deception. Whether its diving, handball or any other form of manipulation of the rules, deception has played a major role in football and whether people approve of it or not, it will continue to exist as a rare, infamous skill unless for VAR.

While accuracy and justice are no doubt very important in preserving the integrity and trueness of the game, the question we should ask ourselves is whether VAR is worth sacrificing our passion and emotion which drives the popularity behind the beautiful game we know today?