From teams getting relegated, fans going crazy and rivalries heating up. The Premier League has some of the best sports drama. But the biggest has got to be the latest in AI controversy: VAR.
VAR is a video assistant referee, designed to help the real refs make decisions about the game and what should happen. The original concept of VAR has been around for a while, but it was recently accepted by professional sports on a global scale. It was brought to most of the leagues around 2017-2018 and was brought to the entire Premier League in 2019. A small exception to the FA Cup who doesn’t use VAR in every match.
It has been very successful in what it’s designed to do: checking goals, fouls, handball, red cards and so on. It reviews moments using camera footage so match officials can make a more accurate decision.
So why is there so much controversy over something that sounds very useful? The reason being because of time, and consistency of officiating. Usually in matches VAR takes a while to review and lengths the decision process. Fans, players and managers all have the same problem of waiting around for the final call. These delays disrupt the flow of the match and fans get frustrated with this, especially if the delay is over whether a goal is valid. And when there’s a match without VAR, there is a big difference on how the match is played. Example being a match that happened in the FA Cup between two lower ranking teams feeling much faster than some matches in the Premiership.
Another problem is the confusion it could create. As someone who watches the games at home, I can confirm there have been way too many times my dad and I would yell at the tv because of a poor VAR call. The time it takes does leave some unrest in the stands. Especially when different referees can make different decisions
So is it good? Considering the fact it’s been around for eight years, hopefully it will improve later on in the future. But for now, many will still complain. But what do you think? Do you think it’s good or bad and why?
