VAR takes too long

The argument

The objection here is about time rather than accuracy: VAR interrupts a sport whose quality depends on not being interrupted. Studies have shown that VAR has significantly slowed down the pace of football, because of how long it takes to draw up the video playback and then deliberate on a final decision for the call — two separate delays, one technical and one deliberative, before play can resume. The cost is not merely the seconds lost. The momentum of the game shifts unnecessarily during a stoppage: a side that had been pressing has the pressure released, and a side under pressure is given a rest it did not earn on the field. Football's passages of sustained attack are built up over minutes, and they do not survive a pause. The time spent checking the VAR could itself be a major action point of the game, so the review removes the very thing it interrupted play to adjudicate on. The delays are documented rather than merely felt. According to WIRED, "While most VAR calls only take a minute or so on the field, some decisions have taken longer and slowed the pace and rhythm of a fast-moving and momentum-driven sport...A study published last month by researchers at Spain's University of Vigo found that using VAR slowed down first-half play in Italian and German professional soccer leagues." The finding holds across two separate leagues, so it is a property of the system rather than of one competition's officiating. VAR therefore does not benefit football or the many subtleties in pace and speed that the game possesses. Whatever it adds in correctness, this argument holds, it subtracts from the continuous rhythm that makes the sport what it is.

Premises

Counter-arguments

The speed at which the game is played can be slightly sacrificed for the sake of the accurate call, and the same article cited in the argument says, "players adapted in the second half by committing few fouls." Even the players can adapt to the new rule in order to benefit from the correct call. The positive effects of a new VAR system outweigh the minor inconvenience of a few more minutes added to the game's runtime. It could also allow a few minutes for the players to get some much-needed rest in end-of-game, high pressure situations. VAR should not be dismantled simply because of a few extra minutes.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] The benefits of getting a major call right with VAR vastly outweigh the minor inconvenience of waiting a few extra minutes each game. [Rejecting P3] VAR is important in football, and should not be dismantled.