Controversial decisions and human errors are the lifeblood of sports that make us to be anguish and happy in equal measure with a lot talking point among coaches, pundits and fans but this seems to becoming obsolete.
VAR; video assistant referee is no longer a news to football and sports in general as now the technology being applied in other sports in other to refine the refereeing process and cut down on some contentious calls by the referee. Since the introduction of the new technology in sport, different people hold different opinions. We have seen the full implementation of the technology in the last world cup. While it helped the referees take wonderful decision that beats human ability, it also had its controversies. You may have read and heard about the benefits of VAR. This post is my personal opinion and what I feel about the new technology. Please read through and leave you opinion in the comment section on what you too feel about it.
In April this year following a discussion meeting on VAR by premier league football clubs, a unanimous decision by two third of the vote cast by 20 premier league clubs opted rather to extend the experimentation of visual assistance referee technology till 2019. This alone shows that many clubs are still yet to reach a conclusion on the development.
EFFECT OF VAR
Interruption of game flow
You will agree with me that on several occasions’ fans and players alike have being left bewildered when games are stopped for a longer period of time while waiting for the referee to take a decision. At time we have seen the referee still going back to the visual television to confirm his decision or confused at times. Most times this as a result of poor communication between the center referee and the visual assistance referees who have being seen arguing or taken different opinion about a particular incident thereby keeping everybody in suspense. The time spent on this to a greater extend remove or drastically reduce the tempo of a team when a team is desperate for goal and this gives undue advantage to the winning team or teams that want a draw a breathing space. After the continuation of the match we see some decisions affecting the team, coach and fans moral.
Game last longer
You can bear me witness that on few occasions, the referee or the fourth official signal for 8-7 minutes of additional time due to few interruptions of play. It seems the whole thing is now turning into basket ball where we see action every quarter of an hour.
Errors in human application
This technology is meant to be use in making certain decision when there is clear error by the referee but we have seen it being abuse when avoided decisions that led to a penalty was visited in friendly game between Italy and England instead of the penalty call. We have also seen where referee have left the VAR rules of engagement by asking the assistance to get a second decision. In this situation what is the best decision by the referee to be fair to both teams. Is it to award the penalty or free kick that happened before the penalty?
Despite the successes of VAR referee errors still exist. On many occasion the referee after looking at the visual television have given or didn’t take notice of many offside goals because offside line cannot be superimposed on the picture to help narrow down referee decision and in case where referee give a card due to wrong decision can he overtone it after consulting VAR in cases of mistaken simulations or red cards.
Allegations
There have been allegations that the head of the VAR system, Hellmut Krug, was unduly influencing events and decisions in most Germany VAR reviews taking place at a central hub. The mess came to a head on Monday when Krug was fired from his position after claims he had influenced penalty decisions in favor of his favorite team Schalke 04 against Wolfsburg in a 1-1 draw.
What happens if a player or coach makes an allegation on a wrong call for an incident the referee was very correct?
VAR in African football
There is no doubt that most Africa cities are underdeveloped in terms provision of basic amenities like constant electricity as well as internet connection that are basic for the implementation of VAR. Most clubs sites are funded by the government and we have seen a situation where players go on strike to puss home their basic wages. How then can theses clubs afford the facilities to implement and manage VAR when stadium, the sporting equipment are poorly maintained.
Has VAR eliminated controversies?
Let’s take a quick look of some incidences that played out at the 2018 FIFA world cup.
Cristiano Ronado escaped penalty against Saudi Arabia
Cristiano Ronaldo avoided red cad after flying elbow in Portugal 1-1 draw with Iran
Harry Kane wrestled down in the box in an un-warded penalty against Tunisia
Un-awarded penalty against Germany when Sweden striker Marcus Berg was shoved in the back by Boateng even after VAR review
Brazil football confederation wrote to FIFA to demand explanation on VAR usage on Switzerland equalizing goal and avoided second yellow card against Gabriel Jesus unlike their Nigerian counterpart against Argentina
Conclusion
One of the challenges with the system that it is opening referees to a fresh, new form of referees being ridiculed and undermined. It’s another stick with which to beat them. That just cannot be right even when the technology cannot eliminate controversies. It is taking human opinion out of football that create the vibes among fans and pundits to become to robotic, harder for referees to take independent decision and players to conscious to take tackling decisions. VAR is as effective as human applies it, and along as human supersede on decisions, errors will continue to happen even though the numbers of incorrect calls will be reduced. If we continue with this technology, a time will come when everything about the beautiful game becomes robotic. Although VAR will help referees takes good decision it will definitely impact on the way we watch and enjoy football.
Please leave your comment below
Comments