To call VAR in the Premier League controversial would be a mammoth understatement. According to a recent YouGov survey, just one in 25 Premier League fans feel that VAR has worked ‘very well’.
Over half of fans asked – 60%, to be precise – said that VAR worked ‘very badly’ or ‘fairly badly’.
The Premier League delayed the introduction of VAR – that hasn’t helped. Frustrations with its application and consistency remain. Many are opposed to the use of technology from an ideological standpoint.
Only 12% of fans said VAR has made the game more enjoyable – 67% said it is ‘a little less enjoyable’ or ‘a lot less enjoyable’.
Despite the negative reviews of it, the survey also returned an overwhelming majority of fans who want to keep the system. Nearly three-quarters said to keep VAR with changes, and just 15% want it to be removed from the Premier League altogether.
That’s interesting – fans aren’t impressed with it as is but appreciate it can improve the game.
Around half of fans ‘strongly support’ VAR footage being shown to in-stadium fans in real-time and over 50% want to see referees use the pitchside monitors.
Just over 40% ‘strongly support’ hearing the conversation about the video officials and the on-pitch referee and a similar number would like a time limit on VAR decisions.
Fan opinion, at least, suggests VAR can be a success in the Premier League. It will have its detractors, as anything does, but there’s a willingness to embrace technology in England’s top flight despite its mixed first season in the league.
Even the greatest advocates of VAR would admit it has been imperfect.
Controversies will remain in the game. VAR isn’t meant to remove debate over refereeing decisions – its purpose is to give the officials the best possible information before making a decision that can define a match.
The notion that discussion and officiating controversies will vanish is a myth. The Premier League have introduced VAR, but in their attempts to compromise with its critics, they have undermined the process.
Discouraging officials from going to pitchside monitors was never a good idea. That was meant to preserve the flow of the game – instead, it has helped the introduction of beneficial technology descend into farce.
It manufactured a conflict between the video officials and the on-pitch referee, and – at times, at least – seemed to deter the VAR from overturning their colleague.
Football is a sport of emotions, and the argument that those emotions are restricted by VAR is fair. Fans have that seed of doubt in their mind that a goal will be overruled.
There’s a case that has always been there, though. Every fan has been there, celebrating what they thought was a crucial goal, only to see the linesman’s flag has gone up.
The delay before the disappointment is longer with VAR, but this isn’t an entirely new scenario.
Arguably that wait adds to the tension. There’s theatre in the suspense, or at least that’s what the Premier League supporting world will need to get used to. The Premier League’s new chief executive announced just this week that VAR is here to stay.
Comparisons with technology in other sports are clumsy. Football’s popularity is based partly on the pace of the game, the way it ebbs and flows.
The closest comparison would be rugby, but scrums, lineouts and penalties provide a breather that football doesn’t.
The NFL is thrown around – that is the most stop-start of any sport around and technology has been the centre of controversy upon controversy there.
The use of hawk-eye in cricket and tennis is similar to offsides. Shaving the stump with umpire’s call still raises eyebrows, and maybe that’s how we will view offsides in years to come.
Offsides can be viewed as an objective decision, like a line-call at Wimbledon or LBW at Lord’s.
Maybe changes are made in the Premier League to introduce a benefit of doubt for ‘armpit offsides’. Introduction of technology is not perfect in sport, and adaptation is required.
Teams now retain their review if the decision is umpire’s call in international cricket – a tweak to offsides could be similarly transformative.
Football is different. The amount to be learned from other sports is limited. What it does show, however, is that it takes time. Everyone – fans, officials, players – need a period to get used to the system, and how it alters the game.
The same way the definition of a catch is argued over in the NFL, and frame-by-frame analyses are carried out over decisions in cricket, football will not lose its controversies over subjective calls.
Time, then, might just be the key to VAR being considered a success. Football’s governing bodies will tinker with the use of the technology (referees are already starting to use pitchside monitors) and find ways to address the greatest concerns.
Fans will begin to get used to seeing marginal offside calls. In an ideal world, VAR would be a means to generate more goals with offsides favouring the attacking side and more fouls spotted. Perhaps that’s the way this eventually turns.
The world’s most popular sport is unique. Using technology presents challenges others do not suffer from, but that does not make such issues insurmountable.
For all the snail-paced decisions and farcical moments, fans still want to see VAR succeed. Football is late to the game when it comes to video technology, and the Premier League was later than several other major leagues.
The Premier League is only a short way along the path to a satisfactory – if not better – use of video technology.
Regularly using pitchside monitors, rather than keeping them as a pointless TV screen by the touchline, is a huge step in the right direction. Alterations to offsides are coming, too.
Such a seismic change was never going to be straightforward. The Premier League haven’t made it easy to love VAR.
Patience is required, VAR can still improve the game. Fan support remains, and that is only likely to increase once some obvious adjustments are made.
VAR isn’t going anywhere. There’s no reason it can’t be a success if given time. Enjoy some of your success with our football betting tips in the meantime and let's hope VAR turns it around sooner rather than later.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo*
