Video refereeing is killing our love of sport
Video assistant refereeing has become more of a detriment than an help as more issues in the English Premier League and A-League reared their heads in the past 24 hours.
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VIDEO refereeing needs to go, and it needs to go now.
Don’t wait until the end of the respective English Premier League and A-League seasons, get rid of it now.
It seems to be every weekend there is another controversy surrounding either a video assistant referee (VAR) or some sort of goal review system in a different sport.
The AFL had incidents on the regular throughout the 2019 season, including in the preliminary final between GWS and Collingwood.
That, and many Port Adelaide and Adelaide supporters will look back at the Showdown a couple of years ago when now-Geelong forward Josh Jenkins looked to have clipped the post.
VAR has been a regular occurrence on home soil in the A-League across two-and-a-half years, with it being a constant frustration for supporters and players alike.
thought I had seen the worst of VAR when firmino’s goal was disallowed. I’ve just seen a worse call against the Wellington Phoenix in the a-league. Ball smash’s player in the chest. Ref gives pen. Cameras show it clear as day but var upholds the pen. Absolute farce
— Mark Naish (@MarkNaish2) November 3, 2019
Wellington Phoenix’s Louis Fenton was straight to the point in his post-match interview with Archie Thompson on Fox Sports in Sunday’s loss to Melbourne City, suggesting “it’s (VAR) f****d”.
VAR is what will drive me away from watching the A-League. I'll always watch my Nix, but reckon I'll skip the other matches when this is the level of officiating we get https://t.co/ESWbDe5tma
— Cameron McIntosh 📷 âš½ (@NZPhotomac) November 3, 2019
Overnight in the EPL, VAR’s frustrating nature again reared its ugly head in the Everton versus Tottenham match.
Two clear penalties to Everton were rejected by not only match official Martin Atkinson, who copped some flak on Twitter post-match, and afterwards by the VAR.
If I’d have been playing in the VAR era my long arms would have been offside for about 50 goals 😕
— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) November 3, 2019
The missed penalty decisions ended up costing Everton two points.
This is VAR’s first season in the EPL and so far, it has failed the supporters and the players.
It kills any momentum and can gut a stadium of any intense atmosphere as it attempts to work out the slightest thing.
Human error is a guaranteed thing, supporters and players understand that with a raw decision.
However, when there is an opportunity to have the error overwritten and corrected, you need to take it and fix it, that’s what it's there for.
Either do it correctly, or not at all. It’s simple.