The most popular sport in the world is soccer, though, outside America, this sport is typically known as football. The fact that soccer is such a low scoring game, means that the decisions so made upon the field of action in regards to penalties, offsides, and goals are of supreme importance to all those that are engaged in the watching of this sport. So then, in this era of hi-technology, those that are the organizers of this sport at its highest level, brought to the field of action, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), to theoretically ensure less errors by referees. It would be one thing, if VAR was actually a good and loyal servant to the referee on the field, but it’s an entirely different thing when the VAR as assistant is perhaps not assisting all that well, at all. So then, the very first problem with VAR is the fact that decisions so being made within a particular game, aren’t necessarily better or more accurate with VAR, in every single instance. That is to say, it is very difficult to determine definitively a close offsides decision, because where the soccer ball is located is often many yards away from where the player who is alleged to be possibly offside is positioned, and that player is typically running at a fast pace, along with it also has to be determined simultaneously when the soccer ball has been played by the other player, so passing it. So too, the camerawork so being provided to the VAR, as well as to the on-field referee for review, and the camera angles so being provided as well as the resolution, so of, aren’t currently robust enough to be definitive. This would imply that on offsides decisions, that there should be built-in a reasonable tolerance, that favors the offense, and hence will not accidently disallow a goal which, in a perfect world, would have actually been valid.
The other major problem with VAR, is the fact that any sport so being played and watched, is dependent upon the fans that watch it, and those fans are watching the game in real time, which means that in order to properly enjoy the game, the vast majority of those fans want definitive decisions in real time, with an absolute minimum of time being devoted to reviewing this or that. That is to say, there isn’t anything more deflating than having a goal that has been scored, having to be reviewed, time and time again, to determine whether such is offside, which obviously takes away and distracts from the excitement and the meaning of a goal being scored in the first place. In other words, fans need only to experience a few times the disappointment of a goal being disallowed to basically temper their enthusiasm for any goal being scored, because they know that just about any goal could subsequently be erased. Look, it has to be realized that before VAR came into play, when a goal was scored and no offsides flag was raised, that goal stood, which basically meant that goal could thereby be celebrated or for those on the opposing side, disdained.
So then, in short, the twin problems with VAR, rests not only in the accuracy of such, being absolutely debatable, but also that VAR takes away from fans fully appreciating the game in real time, because this unseen god, VAR, is the arbiter of what is or is not a legitimate goal, so seemingly decided, at its whim.