By Shani Adesanya
VAR stands for Video Assistant referee; it is a match official who assists the on-field referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and advising referees based on those reviews. VAR was formally written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on March 3, 2018 and subsequently implemented at the start of the 19/20 Premier League Season. It is often used to review penalty incidents, red cards, offences in the build up to goals and possible offsides. These reviews often involve slowing down footage (when reviewing penalty incidents or possible red cards) and drawing lines on the last defender and attacking player to determine onside or offside. It was introduced with the hopes of eradicating mistakes made by on-field referees, however since its introduction there have been more incidences of incorrect decisions.
The debates surrounding the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system in football have continued since its inception. It has not solved the issue it was brought in for – ensuring that incorrect on-field decisions by the referee are corrected. While some have suggested getting rid of it altogether, it must be stressed that VAR is not the problem in itself. Rather, it is the people in charge of it that are making human errors and giving VAR its bad reputation.
For example, a recent controversy occurred in a game between Liverpool and Spurs in which Luiz Diaz’s goal was ruled offside and disallowed. It came at a crucial point in the game, as Liverpool had gone down to ten men, and Diaz’s goal would’ve put them one goal ahead of an eleven man Spurs side. However, after a VAR review the goal was ruled out. This was a result of miscommunication between the on-field referee and the assistant referees in the VAR room. The technology did its job, but the wrong decision was made due to a human error. Decisions like this have massive impacts on the outcomes of games as Spurs went on to score after the disallowed goal, and eventually won the game 2-1.
Another example occurred last season, when Brentford scored a late equaliser against an Arsenal team pushing for the league title. The goal should not have stood, but Lee Mason forgot to draw the VAR lines to check if the goal was offside. Last season there were 15 VAR-related apologies for incorrect decisions from Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body responsible for refereeing matches in English football..
After the Liverpool/Spurs game, PGMOL again released an apology. However, this was not enough as they were pressured by fans, clubs, and pundits into releasing audio footage of the miscommunication that occurred. The audio revealed that Darren England, who was in charge of VAR that day, had mistakenly believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal. Therefore, instead of reversing the on-field decision as England was supposed to, the audio revealed him to instead say ‘check complete’. This exemplifies the fact that the technology is not the problem, the individual referees are.
While the release of the footage is a good step towards creating greater transparency, it should not have reached this stage. In what is often dubbed as the best league in the world, the standard of refereeing must be raised.
A stark reason why the standard of refereeing has shown little improvement is because there is no effective accountability for referees. Whenever managers or players call out the incompetence they are slapped with fines. Yet, referees that make these mistakes are still appointed to officiate matches the following week, as no accountability mechanism actually exists. This lack of accountability enables the incompetency of referees to continue. It is vital that PGMOL holds themselves and their referees accountable, so that the integrity of the game remains intact. Additionally, managers and players should be allowed to criticise the standard of refereeing, especially when such decisions have a significant impact on where they finish in the table. We need to stop scapegoating the technology and address the actual issue which is the lack of accountability for the individuals in control of VAR. A possible solution to this is having referees give post match interviews, the same way managers are required to, they should be required to explain all their decisions especially when those decisions are incorrect. Another potential solution is to mic up referees during games so that everyone can hear and have some understanding of their decisions. If they are aware that their decision making process is being heard by everyone that is watching, there is a greater incentive to make sure that every decision is correct, as it leaves no room for complacency.
