VAR: What is it good for? Maybe not quite absolutely nothing. But in its current guise it takes away so much more from football than it adds.
This is not an original thought, of course. But there are plenty of reasons football’s in-game use of technology is so heavily lamented.
How long does it have to be before something is done to rectify the present shambles of the video assistant referee process?
Take the AFC Champions League Elite Finals as an example. It hasn’t even properly started yet, but already the action has been distorted by VAR.
So far in Jeddah, it has been both a blessing and a curse for UAE teams.
On Tuesday evening, Shabab Al Ahli took the lead against Iranian champions Tractor after being awarded a penalty via a video review.
A ball came into the box and was headed clear by Tractor’s captain, Shojae Khalilzadeh. All seemed fine, but, as the play continued, Sultan Adil, Shabab Al Ahli’s striker, stayed on the floor, then motioned to the ref that he had been elbowed on the side of his face.
The video assistant agreed, even though it appeared not much more than the sort of contact that happens multiple times per game. Shabab Al Ahli went on to win 3-0.
Later that night, Al Wahda exited the tournament in heartbreaking fashion. The Abu Dhabi club heroically defied a star-studded Al Ittihad side, as well as a rambunctious crowd, for 120 minutes.
Then, right at the end of stoppage time in extra time, they fell foul of a video review that spotted an infringement as they defended their goal. Fabinho stepped up, and sent Ittihad through to the quarter-finals.
No Ittihad player had appealed for the penalty, other than Abdulrahman Alobud, who had stayed down on the floor clutching his calf.
Replays showed he had been kicked there when he had got to a loose ball first. Still, the fact it led to a match-defining penalty felt harsh in the extreme.
What the first four matches of the Finals have shown is that players are on high alert when it comes to the potential benefits they could get out of staying down and rolling about.
They are well aware of how easy – maybe even necessary – it is to game the system. They lie on the floor, writhing around in mock agony, for long enough for the VAR to first notice, and then look into the perceived crime. It takes time out of games, is unsightly, and is just generally a blight.
There does feel like there is a simple solution. Football could ease a load of VAR-related stress by adopting their own version of the referral systems of cricket, tennis or hockey.
Teams should be able to invoke one video review per game of their own choosing. If the review is successful, they keep their referral; if unsuccessful, they lose it.
Sure, both the decisions affecting UAE teams in Jeddah would have been upheld on review. The referee did deem them fouls after consulting the monitor, after all.
But in the team review system, they might have been out of referrals by that point, so the on-field decision would have to be honoured. A bit like the old days.
A system that puts the responsibility on players to help police themselves would – to some degree, at least – cut down on the chancers and grifters.
Going by the examples of cricket and tennis, it should help reduce dissent towards officials, too, as the onus would be on players to make the call. If they get it wrong, that’s on them, not the referee.
Stropping off at the ref is too deeply woven into the fabric of football for it to be eradicated completely, of course.
But this would give teams agency, the chance to lodge an official, in-game protest. If it is upheld, then all good; that’s one extra correct decision. If they get it wrong, then tough luck.
Given the billions that have been poured into VAR technology, it is not going away. It doesn’t need to. With the referral system, the tech still needs to be on point. And the video assistant referee and his team get to keep their jobs.
Tennis and cricket have natural breaks in play to consider reviews. Would an artificial pause alter football? Would players and staff have to halt for a confab every couple of minutes, and thus make games even more staccato than they have become already? Not if a decision review countdown was implemented.
Field hockey has a more similar flow to football, and its video umpire system is considered a great success, even adding added excitement to the match-going experience.
Surely football should be attempting to try to do similar. Because at present, VAR is killing it.
