VAR or Video Assistant Referee might just be the most controversial technology to be added to football. Technologies are meant to make the game more accurate and eliminate referee error who, being humans, are bound to make mistakes, and the pace at which the game is played, it is impossible to maintain your concentration on the game throughout the 90 minutes, sometimes even more and thus, are prone to errors. This is why goal-line technology was introduced to help referees in making the decision of whether the ball crossed the line or not. It has been the greatest thing ever to happen to football.
However, the same cannot be said about VAR, which has been inconsistent to say the least but it’s the drama around the VAR which has received the most traction from the media. Sharing a couple of situations with you guys.
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In a La Liga match with Real Madrid playing, a decision was to be checked by the VAR and the referee appeared to be holding the mic close to his mouth so that he could communicate with the VAR officials in the VAR room. Well, the funny bit is that since the VAR room is showed off on TV, the VAR was empty at the time the referee was apparently consulting the officials in the room and to top it all off, a decision was made after all the acting that the referee had to do with the non-existent officials in the VAR room.
This isn’t even the most funniest of them all. Most recently, Saudi Arabian league has started using VAR and the humor was taken to another level when the referee came to the VAR TV on the pitch sidelines to make the decision when it was realized that the VAR was turned off. Turns out, one of the workers there realized that his phone needed to be charged, being more important than the VAR system during a live game, people certainly have their priorities set these days, don’t they?
Regardless, VAR is slowing the game down and needs a lot of changes to be even close to the assistance provided by the goal-line technology.
