Football is all about opinions. That’s what keeps us coming back for more, but it’s also what leaves us feeling so frustrated. It’s rare to reach a consensus among football fans, even followers of the same team, but there’s been increasingly united ire about one thing recently – VAR.
Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) was introduced to the Premier League in the 2019/20 season. Early issues were tolerated and explained away as teething problems, but three years after its introduction, should we be concerned that we’re seeing the same mistakes again and again? Football fans are fickle, VAR could be the hero one week when it awards them a narrow victory and the villain the next when it chops off a goal. However, if we look beyond these petty tribalisms, does the Premier League have a VAR problem? Let’s find out.
A Bad Week for VAR
Fans and pundits alike have been criticizing VAR for some time, but things came to a head this month after a series of calamitous errors were made over the course of a weekend.
The first incident took place in the Arsenal v Brentford game, which finished 1 – 1 and put Arsenal’s title dreams in jeopardy. Ivan Toney scored a header to equalize in the 74th minute, a goal which was deemed legitimate after a VAR check. However, a subsequent review revealed that VAR official Lee Mason had failed to draw the correct offside lines and that the goal should have been disallowed due to Brentford player Ethan Pinnock being in an offside position. Mason has since left his job as a VAR official.
The next incident happened in the West Ham v Chelsea match, which also finished in a 1-1 draw. In the 89th minute, after a tightly contested game, Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher drilled a low shot into the box, which was blocked by the hand of West Ham’s Tomas Soucek. The referee waved play on, while the VAR team confirmed no error had been made. This decision has been widely panned, but it’s clear to see upon review that it was a clear handball and that Chelsea should have been awarded a penalty and the chance to turn one point into three.
What Does This Mean for Var?
When VAR arrived, it was hailed as the saviour of football that was set to establish and guarantee a fair and level playing field for everyone. It was going to end ideas and accusations of cheating and corruption and allow the beautiful game to be played as intended. It hasn’t quite worked out that way, and common sense would suggest that it was never going to.
While VAR has made the refereeing job significantly easier and more efficient, at the end of the day there is still a human operating the technology. Without complete 100% automation, we will never rid the sport of human error and subjectivity, and so these problems will continue to occur.
Conclusion
Does the Premier League have a VAR problem? It’s easy to point to certain incidents and say yes. However, a more accurate statement would be to say that football has a human problem, and that is something we’re not getting rid of any time soon.
