The 2020/2021 Premier League football season will be remembered for the controversy which has been caused by the introduction of VAR – video assistant referees.
The referee at pitch-side, to help assess whether there has been foul play or some other infringement of the rules of the game, can review videos of an incident. A central hub at Stockley Park, West London, monitors all footage and can draw the referee’s attention and positively influence decision making.
All this sounds like a good idea. But many players, fans and pundits have come to the conclusion that it is ruining the game. Do we really want players ruled off-side by a fraction of a centimetre? Should penalties be given for handball when a defender could not possibly have had time to get his arm out of the way of a ball kicked from close range. Writing in the Telegraph, referee Keith Hackett said: ‘It is taking control and taking authority from the on-field official and that cannot be right. Fans are asking, who is running the game now?’ It is not that the video footage isn’t helpful. But it is beginning to dominate. A servant is becoming the master. Some rethinking is required.
How big is too big?
During the depths of lockdown I was out walking having a pastoral conversation when we bumped into someone who went …