Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
Should VAR be used in football?
Position‹2 of 3›

No. VAR has made football worse

This position holds that VAR has made football worse and should be scrapped. It argues that reviews take too long and rob fans of celebrating goals, that human error is part of the game, that football is too free-flowing for it, and that VAR drains the passion from the sport.

Supporting arguments · 6

  1. Mistakes are part of the game
    Sports are about what the very best humans can achieve. Sometimes humans get things wrong. Rather than using technology to fix these mistakes, we should embrace human error.
  2. Fans can no longer celebrate goals in the same way
    Every decision is now subject to doubt as many goals are ruled out by VAR. VAR has made the experience worse for football's most important group: the matchgoing fan.
  3. VAR kills the passion of the game
    The rules of football were mostly created more than 100 years ago. They reflect a vastly different time long before television cameras and with less skilled referees. As a result, some of these rules don't function as intended when we can suddenly see the tiniest details of what happened.
  4. Football is too free-flowing for VAR
    Play can go on for several minutes in football without any sport of clear break and it's not uncommon for a chance at one end to be followed immediately by a counter-attack at another. Stopping play to look at replays would interrupt these crucial parts of football.
  5. VAR takes too long
    VAR often needs to review a decision from several angles several times to be correct. This takes up a huge amount of time and gets in the way of the actual football to be played.
  6. VAR can't review everything
    A game of football will be filled with risky challenges and potential handballs, never mind action off the ball. Looking at every moment simply isn't possible and looking only at "important" moments isn't fair.