Has VAR Revolutionized Football as we know it?

With many major leagues around the world already deciding to implement VAR in their systems, the Premier League is probably the biggest name that was added on the list. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is s system that has been designed to rectify the errors that occur during gameplay.

There has been a lot of criticism in the past on referee errors. Most of them were due to inexperienced referees that performed on the world’s biggest stages. While the best was still able to perform up to standard, there was a feeling that something needed to be done.

The technology was the only possible solution. Adding more cameras around the filed and a group of people to monitor the system was a great idea at first. But has VAR been implemented the way we thought it would? Has it managed to change football as we know it?

How is VAR Affecting Football?

Even before it was introduced, many critics of the system started appealing against the usage of VAR technology. Their main concern was that it will take away from the game that we all love and will diminish it.

Many have compared it with the way American Football is being run today. A lot of it is being dominated by technology. Most of the calls are being reviewed and the game does not have a flow as it is constantly paused due to referee checks or call.

VAR was seen as something that might have the same impact on football and nobody wanted that to happen to it.

Has VAR Improved Regularity?

VAR has been insourced to Premier League for the 2019/20 season. The reason why this decision was made was mostly with the fans’ concerns and TV right deals. Many demanded that the regulation of the league be improved. This is normal as each game in the Premier League has a small fortune placed on it.

However, last season, there were 82% of correct decisions made by referees in Britain. Meaning that only one in every five big calls was an error. This was not something that would have changed the course of the league to drastic measures. As things stand now, VAR is not showing greater numbers than those. Mistakes still happen and even with VAR the same percentage of right calls is kept.

The Future of VAR and Football

As things stand now, we are not going to get rid of VAR any time soon. The best that we can hope is that referees and officials start using the technology given to them in a proper way.

Any pieces of tech can be valuable if you use it correctly. Thus with time, VAR may become a useful tool to have.