Video Assistant Referees (VAR): The Solution or the Problem ?
©ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP
Since the implementation of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the 2018/2019 season, football fans and even players have been critical of it for many reasons. Hailed as a revolutionary tool in football that will eliminate human mistakes and make the game fairer, the VAR was not able to show any significant improvement whatsoever.
Nowadays, we see 3 referees on the field, 1 on the sidelines and 3 in the VAR room. With this given, some obvious and clear decisions were not taken by the main referee, which leaves football fans wondering what it takes to make the right decisions in a match.
Since the 2018/2019 season, VAR has without any doubt helped referees, players, and fans see what they wouldn’t have seen prior to its use. There was access to an instant playback on the field and in the VAR room so that the correct decisions were taken for serious fouls, offsides, and penalties, so in this case, game-changing situations where there was no room for error.
With this advanced technology at hand, outrageous decisions were still taken on the field, even after the use of VAR. In this context, it is easy to understand that VAR or any other technologies are not the problem; referees are.
These technologies used in the Premier League, La Liga, Champions League, and others are some of the most advanced in terms of precision and accuracy. However, referees are still not getting it right for some reason.
As the average VAR decision time is 55 seconds, which is already long for a football game, some replays are even taking 3 to 4 minutes before a decision is taken, even though it could’ve taken significantly less.

In this 2023/2024 season, linesmen and referees, specifically in the Premier League, have been criticized for some shocking outcomes, and rightly so. The most scandalous one was undoubtedly the one in the Spurs vs. Liverpool game on September 30th.
In the Spurs vs. Liverpool match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Luis Diaz scored a goal that supposedly gave Liverpool the lead, and the offside flag was raised instantaneously. After VAR review, the goal was deemed onside. However, Simon Hooper decided that the goal should not stand, even though the audio revealed that he was told otherwise.
The Premier League apologized after this incident. The league has apologized 13 times since, all of them "significant human errors." This type of error did not occur in other leagues that used VAR, which shows that it isn’t the problem; the people using it are.
In this context, even though there were many criticisms about the VAR itself, technology is not the problem. If there was anyone to blame for these poor decisions, referees are.
Human errors often occur and have been influencing the game since the start. However, with the use of technology and the support of five more arbitrators, foolish decisions should not exist on this level of football.
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