I'd be interested to know what people here think about this recent survey suggested match going fans are strongly opposed to VAR and overwhelmingly believe it makes the game less enjoyable.
Personally, it doesn't surprise me at all. I regularly go to games and despise VAR; as far as I'm concerned it's the worst thing to happen to football in all the years I've been a fan, and if it were up to me I'd scrap it entirely (with the exception of goal line technology), or set the bar for intervention so high it would have to be an absolute howler of a decision for it to intervene (not clear and obviously as it supposedly is now, but the kind of error a club might see 2 or 3 times per season).
Virtually every match going fan I've ever spoken to has had similar opinions, but when I've spoken to people online, they seem much more accepting of VAR, and in many cases are actively for it. Being anti-VAR almost seemed to put me in the minority. I don't know if it just happened to be the people who felt strongly enough to discuss it, or whether if fans around the world who don't go to matches just have a more positive view on VAR in general? Or maybe it's just the way Reddit leans on the matter? Or maybe I'm just completely wrong in my observation! I'd be interested to know what people think.
I also want to clarify this isn't a post suggesting anyone's opinion is less valid or someone is a 'bigger' fan than anyone else because of where they live or whether they're able to get to matches. It's just a difference of opinion I'd noticed, and wanted to ask what people think.
by tadanari19
3 Comments
I personally will never ever be against VAR.
There are errors but the errors seem worse because the referees have the benefit of technology so we expect them to do better, which they should but ultimate these decisions are being made by humans.
Anyone that is honest watched football pre-VAR will know how bad referee errors were, at all stages of the game, it’s just something you had to accept. In my opinion it’s not as bad now, referee errors have definitely gone down, but there is just a bigger magnifying glass on decisions because the refs have VAR and we expect more of them.
Removing VAR would set the game back.
just tell me, why would you prefer the possibility of incorrect calls that could decide the outcome of a game to just waiting a few seconds before celebrating a goal. there is simply no real justification for scrapping VAR other than nostalgia
I am against VAR when a decision takes 4 minutes. If it is based on challenging a clear and obvious error then it shouldn’t take that long and I think instances like these are what annoys the average person.
The offside decisions are going to be contentious because for years, fans debated on goals that were a bawhair off/onside and that close calls were being called wrong. Now there is a system that can determine said bawhair there are arguments over what body part counts as offside and if the strictness take away the fun (usually argued when something goes against their own team)
We have the accusations that referees dont ref the game and avoid the big calls because they have a safety net of VAR. You also have the accusations that VAR dont want to call out incorrect refereeing decisions because they are all part of the same group. Whether or not any of this is true, the speculation alone is enough to question the validity of the process.
In its current guise, is VAR working? Yes to an extent.
Can jt be more efficient? Yes but it’s not that black and white.
Is VAR a good thing? Overall yes. There are faults to it, but as long as it continues to adapt and hopefully becomes a better system, I would rather the correct decisions