“GOAL DISALLOWED, FOUL IN BUILD UP”, reads the stadium’s jumbotron. A groan from the home stand and stifled cheers from the away end. A scene all too familiar in the soccer world today. Video Assistant Referee, commonly known as VAR is a technology first implemented in the 2019-20 Premier League season, and has been implemented in leagues and competitions around the world. It has not come without its fair share of controversy along the way, and fans are always willing to voice their opinion on the technology and its effects on the sport.
Clover Hill teacher and devoted Chelsea F.C. fan Mr. Rahman is no exception, having lots to say about VAR, with a fair bit of partiality towards his Blues. When asked about the technology’s effect on the flow of matches, he had a negative opinion.
“Not good, for the most part, I think the reviews are a little too choppy and they take too much time. Also stoppage time these days.”
Rahman had a lot to say about its effects on Chelsea and other teams in the league.
“Obviously [VAR] affects Chelsea way more than any other team, but I think it affects everyone negatively a lot of the time.”
He pinpointed the cause of this issue on the officials themselves, and a lack of accountability.
“I think the referees need to be held accountable for mistakes that are made, especially through the use of VAR” a solution he recommended to this was to “[give out] fines or something like that, because players get fined for making mistakes, I feel like refs should.”
Rahman also believes that certain referees are assigned more games with certain clubs, and that the league should be more diligent with avoiding certain combinations of an official and a team.
“Refs sometimes have a bad relationship with some fan bases and things like that, I know Anthony Taylor is getting a lot of abuse from Chelsea fans.”
Eissa Albathigi, varsity soccer player and senior at Clover Hill, provides a different perspective on the topic. He does not support any Premier League club, and mainly watches the Spanish La Liga where he supports F.C. Barcelona.
“VAR in general, it’s supposed to be good for the sport, it’s used good, but there’s some improvements [to be made]. Especially in the PL, it’s very manual, there’s not a lot of automation like in La Liga or Champions League, there’s automated offsides, it’s all very objective and they should make it less reliant on the referee to make the decision.”
Alabathigi believes that VAR negatively affects the flow of the game.
“From a fan’s point of view, I don’t think it’s good, it ruins the fun out of it, and you don’t know when to celebrate or not, even for the players.”
But he views it as a necessary evil, saying “it has to be done if you look at past seasons, (before VAR’s implementation) and important goals that have been scored. Most of history would have been changed if there was VAR back then. Especially with certain Madrid-based teams”
The Clover Hill senior holds mixed opinions on the fairness of its use across Europe’s leagues.
“I think yes [it is applied fairly] in Spain and the Champions League, but in the Prem, I don’t really like it that much. And for Europe as a whole they should make it consistent with the technologies used.
Albathigi also brought forward a very unique opinion on the referee selection and how it can be amended.
“I feel like they should just get a ref from out of the country so they don’t have any bias. If you have English refs for every English game, there’s going to be bias for some.
Fareed Farooq is a MathSci senior at Clover Hill, and a devoted Gooner (Arsenal F.C. supporter) as he claims to be “kinda from North London”.
He dove right into the core of his beliefs on the system during his interview.
“I think it’s one of the worst inventions ever created in the Premier League. It has serious bias towards Arsenal, it seems like we get the worst calls. I think some teams get very lucky, I think some teams get very unlucky. I think it’s applied fairly, but not consistent enough.
He even provided an example of this alleged inconsistency, unsurprisingly going back to a decision made against Arsenal.
“[For example] Saliba red card vs. Bournemouth, very shocking decision, but okay I can see the argument there. But then, not even a day later, in the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game, a Chelsea player brought down a Liverpool attacker while he was clear through on goal, and the yellow card was given. Literally the exact same situation as Saliba, and VAR said it was not a red”
His opinion on VAR’s existence is the same as many, claiming that “It’s good to have, but the rules should stay consistent or it shouldn’t be used at all.
When asked about its effect on the flow of the sport, Farooq had a different opinion than most.
“I actually like its effect on the flow of matches, because sometimes it can slow down games, some people may disagree, but I think that it builds up the intensity of games and suspense in the moment”
He described the changes he would like to see be made to the system.
“Don’t allow referees that hate certain teams, and the consistency, it has got to improve. You have got to stick real people in there that know ball, like me”
Despite VAR’s controversiality, it looks like it is here to stay.
