Video Referees: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Whether it’s a school football match, or the Premier League, referees and umpires in all shapes and sizes across many sports. This last decade however has seen the introduction to a more technical form of our traditional ref…

Welcome, to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

After being developed by the Royal Netherlands Football Association in the early 2010s, VAR, has had a controversial existence. It was devised to enable officials to review on-field decisions in real time. From reviewing goals, to directing red card positions, this innovative technology has been of great assistance to football referees. According to the BBC, this March, VAR usage in the 2018 FIFA World Cup was approved by FIFA, making it the first competition to use VAR at all its matches and venues. 335 incidents were checked using VAR during the group stages, and it was even used in the final. According to ESPN, Its success in turn made this year’s World Cup the cleanest since 1986, with no red cards issued in the opening 11 games, and the fewest number of players sent off since 1978.

Despite not being prevalent in top division football, unfortunately the technology has not reached the lower leagues. This absence of a third opinion from a video referee can in turn have significant impacts on how referee's call the shots.

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During the recent Manchester City Vs. Shakhtar Donetsk match on the 7th November, referees were accused of making “the worst penalty decision ever”. The match saw Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykola Matviyenko accused of tripping Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, and grants Manchester a penalty kick. However on reviewing the live coverage, it is obvious Sterling merely trips over his own feet. Even Sterling later told BT that “[he] didn’t feel contact. [He] scuffed the ball. Apologies to the ref”.

Mykola Matviyenko accused of tripping Raheem Sterling (source: BBC)

VAR is a controversial concept which is accused of “creating as much confusion as clarity” by ESPN. However this confusion caused by video referees does not end with just football: it’s spreading.

The 10th November 2018 saw England come so close to an rare victory of New Zealand in the Rugby Union. But because of a review from the video referee, our triumph was once more a far-off dream. England’s Sam Underhill achieved what would have been his first try at Test level, however on reflection using the video referee, officials ruled the try disallowed. If the try had been given, England would have won 20-16. Inevitably, this was a decision ill-thought of by England fans - mainly showed by the blaring boos at the final whistle.

VAR was introduced to make football less controversial, and to reduce human error within the game. Ironically however, this isn’t fully the case. I personally don’t have a problem with VAR if it is implemented appropriately, nevertheless it has caused global outrage with some fans as shown above.