VAR moves to a whole new level of insanity

[i961pie]

It works very well in cricket as there is a natural pause between each ball so it's easy to hang on 30 seconds while the footage is reviewed and a decision made. When it's a very borderline decision it goes to 'Umpire's call' (the decision the umpire made at the time). While it's not perfect, I'd say it gets 98% of decisions right with no negative impact on the game. Football is completely different. Take this German game as an example - if the ball had gone straight up the other end and Freiburg had scored a legitimate goal the ref would blow his half time whistle with them leading 1-0. He then consults the VAR man and gives a penalty to Mainz. Would that make it 1-1? Would the Freiburg goal be chalked off so the team that had walked off leading 1-0 at half time walk off a minute later 1-0 down?

These problems will happen but rules will eventually be implemented to cover all of them, but it will be a bit farcical in the meantime.

[lunaspie]

What we do want, however, is a return of bog rolls thrown on the pitch, even if it was done as a protest. Probably our younger viewers won't even remember this practice.

I've always found it to be a Charmin custom.

[jackal2]

The weird thing is, there seems to be a correlation between attitudes to VAR and people's political views. Those on the right seem to think we just have to accept whatever people in authority tell us, even if it's clearly a bad thing, whilst the lefties are more likely to question the benefits.

On that basis, I'm out, the main point being yes, football is a big business now, but it's an entertainment business. Dragging players back from the dressing room is not a spectacle the paying public want to see. It's borderline OCD to do that just to get a decision right. I suppose the conversion of our chairman from pro to anti VAR illustrates the point. As a successful businessman, he knows customers don't want this.

What we do want, however, is a return of bog rolls thrown on the pitch, even if it was done as a protest. Probably our younger viewers won't even remember this practice.

If you think I'm automatically accepting of anything the Football Association or the Football League tells us/me, then you've never read any of my posts on those organisations, the former in particular. For avoidance of doubt I have barely disguised contempt for the bunch of bungling amateurs known as the FA, and would normally assume most decisions they make are wrong.

You may be right in another sense, though, in that I've often thought the difference between right and left is to some extent that between realists and idealists. That's not to say either is wrong, but I definitely come from the realist angle, and in this context I think the realistic view is that technology is changing all aspects of our life and will continue to do so, whether individually we like it or not.

The moment VAR became practically deliverable, it became inevitable. The only variable was how soon the authorities chose to adopt it, and now it's here, the only question is how quickly they will manage to fine tune it. I would be very surprised if football ever goes back to pre-VAR days on a wholesale basis. The only thing likely to delay its rollout is cost, especially for the lower levels.