Why is the use of VAR in Football so controversial?

By Jay Lee

Photo by Daniel Norin from Unsplash.

Since 2018, when the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was first popularly introduced to football matches, the effectiveness of VAR has been one of the most debated topics along with subjects like Messi versus Ronaldo and if Pele is the best football player ever to exist.

The video assistant referee, more commonly known as VAR, is a match official and video technology used by the VAR team, consisting of a referee, his assistant, and a replay operator. The system helps the head referee make decisions in four game-changing situations - penalties, no or goal decisions, mistaken player identity, and red card decisions. Ever since the system was introduced in 2010 by the Royal International Football Association, it has started to be used in the biggest leagues and competitions from the Champions League to the World Cup due to it being such a powerful tool.

For example, VAR enables the head referee to look at plays and situations from multiple angles that may not have been visible to the referee’s naked eye. VAR has slow-motion cameras to help the referee make more precise decisions. However, do not be fooled by these fancy features. Eighty per cent of RC students surveyed have expressed a massive dislike for VAR. 

The main reason for this colossal dislike of VAR is that it ruins the whole football vibe. According to the Premier League, a full VAR review took an average of 50 seconds in the 2019/20 season and VAR checks were delaying games by 22 seconds on average. Though this lost time is added to extra time or injury time, as many know, this tool leads to many pauses in a football game, ruining the fast-paced and exciting game the sport offers, especially at the heart-beating moments of the game.

Another reason why VAR is loathed so much is that it follows the rules to the maximum, which in truth, acts as a negative. For example, in a situation with Arsenal player Bukayo Saka against Fulham FC, VAR showed Saka being offside, which stopped a crucial winning goal from being counted just because his toe was over the offside line. Though the right decision was made, this situation shows how VAR and the referees sometimes analyze plays to the limits and fail to consider humane mistakes that don’t even affect the play. “Even the Premier League website knows that VAR has been very disliked by many as the decisions it makes is not reasonably practical,” says one RCHK Fantasy Premier League (FPL) member.

Many also dislike the use of VAR because it is designed only for when referees ask for it or when the technology suggests it. This means players, team staff, and even managers cannot ask for decision checks, with consequences of asking even being given yellow cards if asking aggressively for one. This also applies to situations when players disagree with VAR reviews or checks.

“Sometimes in serious cases like in the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal in 2020, Emiliano Martinez, the Arsenal goalkeeper, had made a handball outside of the goalkeeper handling area, which was very distinct. Though the referee did review this play with VAR, he still ruled Martinez not having handled the ball outside of the goal box even when Chelsea players said he was. It made me quite angry and aggrieved that the referee didn’t even try taking into account the players’ opinions,” says another RCHK FPL player.

Moreover, the head referee’s audio conversation with the VAR room members is kept confidential and is only occasionally shared with the public, which may create a lack of trust between fans, players, and referees due to possible bias being a factor in their decisions without people even knowing.

Of course, VAR has its highs as well. According to the Premier League page in the 2019/20 season, the accuracy of match decisions rose from 82 to 94% with the technology in place. In addition, the technology also had a 99.3 % success rate in the 2018 Football World Cup. Sticking with the use of the system in the 2018 World Cup also led to the cleanest World Cup since 1986, with only four red cards being awarded overall. It also led to the highest amount of penalties awarded in the competition; though this can be debated as a positive or a negative. “VAR can help with the game in developing precision and accuracy of decisions and also makes the sport much cleaner,” another RCHK player expressed. 

Therefore, VAR has been regarded to be quite effective in making the right calls based on statistics, but for most fans, the match official’s effectiveness is still questioned.

Fortunately, there are solutions that have or will be implemented into the beautiful game to resolve the majority of the problems VAR has brought so far. For example, thicker lines would be used to determine if a player is offside so that the system favours the attacking side and stops the system from being relentless. Furthermore, the average game delay has been massively reduced and ideas for referee conversations to be heard publicly in front of fans are in progress.