Would the beautiful game improve if we removed the Video Assistant Referee technology?
Premier League supporters, managers, and footballers were given a taste of what life was like without VAR during the Football Association Cup fourth round – and it is fair to say this matchday was far from free of its controversies.
In the current campaign and the prior FA Cup tournament, VAR has not been implemented until the later stages, with many fans welcoming a return to football free from interruptions from video review.
After a season packed with controversy, protracted rulings, and uncertainty driven by VAR, its core purpose has been questioned at times, with many claiming the sport would be more enjoyable without it.
Indeed, after a day full of extensive stoppages, confusing signals, and furious managers in early February, a former Tottenham midfielder stated: "For the good of the game, you'd remove VAR."
"The issue is what it is doing for the games, to the spectacle, with the amount of time it takes to get there."
"Is it preferable to have more right decisions or do you want a smoother football product that is authentic and spur of the moment?"
After a couple of goals from offside positions being permitted to stand, a obvious penalty being overlooked plus several other contentious calls, the weekend certainly thrust the topic back into the spotlight.
'Improved Entertainment' or 'More Precise Decisions'?
Everyone is aware of the arguments against VAR.
Decisions being excessively delayed, goal festivities being paused while deliberations take place, confusion as goals are given – or disallowed – for extremely close reasons, preventing referees the ability to use their own common sense.
But Newcastle's controversial win at their opponent's ground on Saturday could hardly have gone better for supporters of VAR – or worse for those who argue football is better in its absence.
The first goal was obviously offside, a defender inexplicably escaped giving away a penalty for handball, and the same player could arguably should have been sent off for a dangerous tackle as well.
One manager said: "I am conflicted because the game is more exciting without VAR in terms of spontaneity and the viewing experience for the supporters."
"But it does give correct outcomes. It does make the game fairer in terms of decision making. You have to value those moments."
The opposing manager went further, saying "VAR is essential. It's necessary to help the referees".
Additionally, there was some controversy at another ground during a separate match.
A young substitute had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside, while the opposition were furious a penalty was awarded to their opponents.
Another top manager stated: "Overall, I prefer watching football without VAR because if you then score you're like 'it's a goal'."
"I like VAR only for the definitive and unmistakable things... We should avoid using it for judgment calls and only go to goal-line decisions."
Another esteemed coach was unsure whether football was improved with VAR, despite witnessing a goal denied for a questionable offside in his side's win.
"Sometimes before I thought it was better and sometimes I think VAR aids us to have a fairer game," he said. "To be honest I don't know."
Are Officials Become Over-Dependent on VAR Now?
For some, it is straightforward – rather than VAR being a solution for wrong decisions, they would argue officials just need to make correct calls.
When asked whether the mistakes witnessed put him in support of VAR, a former striker responded: "No. I would like the officials to do their job properly. It is not an unreasonable request, is it?"
"If you ever needed any evidence of the damage that VAR has done to referees, I think Saturday is a great example of that."
"These guys look terrified to make a decision because they didn't have a comfort blanket."
A retired shot-stopper commented: "It shows you why we use VAR. A lot of decisions the officials got wrong... VAR is like a security blanket for referees."
"The decision is removed from the officials. The assistant referee has been told all season not to put their flag up, so their brain has been trained."
When asked whether football had become too reliant on VAR, a head coach had some agreement with the argument.
"One could argue to say yes," he said. "Because when VAR is there, there is a tendency to think 'oh well I won't give that because VAR is there to check it'."
"Then your ability to make a call isn't as decisive as it would otherwise need to be. Maybe there is a shift there."
But a retired official believes it is unfair to claim officials use as a crutch VAR.
"I genuinely disagree that's fair," he said. "Obviously I work with them closely and I know these guys and they're not like that."
"I spent half my career with VAR and half without it... And your processes fundamentally stay the same."
"What has changed though is with VAR you don't have that spell in a game where you know you've made a really big error and you now have to recover and go again."
'Superior Without It' or 'A Shambles' – Fan Perspectives
Opposed to VAR:
- James: Football without VAR is authentic football. As a long-term attendee, the last few years have been dreadful in comparison. I don't celebrate goals any more as the officials are far more interested in finding ways of disallowing goals than the entertainment of the match-going fan.
- Frank: I backed the introduction of VAR, but it was refreshing not having it. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many absurd VAR errors.
- Alan: Much, much better [without]. VAR has damaged the game, thankfully I now support grassroots football where there are humans, making human mistakes.
- Stephen: Much better without VAR. No waiting for clear situations that everyone can see immediately but takes VAR forever to decide. Time for return of refs and linesman to start officiating the game again.
- Mike: Better, even though a goal was probably chalked off incorrectly. Right or wrong, its so much better to just know immediately if its a goal or not. VAR is a moment-killer.
- Les: The game is so much better without VAR. It flows without problem like it used to do. The officials are there to make decisions correct or incorrect. VAR are always making wrong calls so I can't see the point of it.
For VAR:
- Bonnie: As a fan of both, that is exactly the decision that VAR doesn't get credit for. VAR gets it right every time.
- Roger: That was so blatantly offside, have linesman lost their natural ability to spot stuff like this since the introduction of VAR? Bad call.
- Peter: There's an easy fix for VAR offsides. If you can watch one TV replay and see the on-field decision is clearly wrong, you intervene.
- Stephen: That's what you all wanted isn't it? More goals regardless of whether they're actually fair or not?
- Liga: It's these types of situations and these types of situation only where VAR should and needs to be used for offsides. Not those incredibly marginal pointless situations.
- Callum: This season is proving 2 things. 1) VAR is a necessity. 2) Attacking football is dead.
- Ben: What are linesman for exactly? Having no VAR is yet more chaos, who makes these decisions?
