The VAR Controversy: VAR is a necessity for modern soccer

During the quarterfinal match of the 1986 World Cup between Argentina and England, fans watched as midfielder Diego Maradona and goalkeeper Peter Shelton both jumped, with their arms outstretched, for the ball. Maradona’s fist, centimeters away from his head, punched the ball into the goal. The referee validated the goal, and Argentina won not only the match, but the World Cup as a whole. If video assistant referees (VAR) had been in use, the goal would have been overturned to an illegal handball. Although Argentinian fans affectionately remember the goal as Maradona’s “Hand of God,” English fans left the stadium that day frustrated and disappointed.

VAR is necessary for catching referee mistakes because these mistakes are not allocated evenly to every team at each stage in a tournament. For example, critics of VAR argue that luck is an important element of soccer, and that referee mistakes are just part of the game. They would also argue that although the referee made a mistake against England in the 1986 World Cup, sooner or later a mistake would happen that would benefit England. However, the chance of that mistake being in another important quarterfinal is low because high stakes games occur less often. While the likelihood of allowing an illegal goal for two teams is roughly the same, one mistake may come in a friendly or group stage while the other is in a semi-final or final.

The English Premier League teams voted to introduce VAR for the 2019-2020 season after Southampton forward Charlie Austin was outrageously denied a goal against Watford in November 2018. While other leagues were already using VAR, including then German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, and French Ligue 1, Premier League teams took longer to agree to the system due to the fear that it would slow down the game. In the Premier League, VAR makes decisions for penalties, red cards, goals, and offsides. Most notably, there has been a massive backlash against some of the offside decisions made in the 2019-2020 season. In the last match week of 2019, five Premier League teams had disallowed goals due to borderline offside calls by VAR, infuriating teams and fans. These critics say that VAR takes too long and makes celebrating a goal difficult because fans have to wait for a VAR confirmation of a goal before they can celebrate.

However, there is a learning curve with everything, and VAR will only continue to improve with time. While the technology and rules surrounding VAR need continual improvements, taking away the whole system would be counterproductive. Some possible ways to improve VAR would be to speed up the time taken for VAR to make decisions and reduce the scope of VAR to include only egregious offsides. VAR is a necessity in fast-paced Premier League matches because it ensures that the game is fair. Rather than benefiting the favorite or home team, VAR is impartial between all players and teams. With such a fast and intense style of soccer, referees need VAR to hold themselves accountable and to ensure an unbiased match.