Is Video Assistant Referee Technology Ruining Football?

More and more, referee decisions in other important sports and Olympic competitions are being supported by sports technology. This is not limited to football.

It is important to note that not only soccer, but also the video assistant referee (VAR) technology, has captured the attention of the world as the final eight teams compete in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

The VAR is a feature of modern football matches, love it or hate it.

Particularly this time in Qatar, where a number of contentious decisions involving VAR were made, many football fans questioned whether the system improved the game or if it added an unnecessary layer of complexity to the beautiful game. The system slows down play, and the offside rule can occasionally become rigid.

Due to the introduction of the VAR, top-tier football is now much more prone to interruptions and delays, with the on-field referee frequently waiting for decisions to be made by those located in offices that are frequently located outside of stadiums.

In actuality, the use of video match officials (VMOs) in football was already utilized at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and was included in the 2018/2019 edition of the Laws of the Game.

Since then, more than 100 competitions around the world have used the system.

Despite criticisms, FIFA deemed VAR’s debut to be a success, with referee committee head Pierluigi Collina claiming that 99.3 percent of “match-changing” decisions were called correctly at the World Cup – “very, very close to perfection”.

Referees correctly called 95% of incidents without the use of VAR.

Sport technology is widely used by major sports in professional and Olympic competitions, not just football, to support a referee’s decision-making and help officials make the right choices.

For instance, the NBA has long used instant replay and other high-tech tools to ensure players are shooting within the time allotted by the shot clock so that the referees can make the correct call. Tennis and cricket have also incorporated hawk-eye into the umpiring actor-network.

We must acknowledge that sports technology in the world of sporting events is still far from ideal. The issues with the way the technology is being used today, not the technologies themselves, are what people are most upset about.

There are too many unreliable factors on the field, which is a component of the game drama, to blame for all of the controversies on the football field.

For instance, there are various circumstances in which the penalty kick in the penalty area is judged.

Consistency and fairness shouldn’t be a zero-sum game. For the games, efforts should be made to increase efficiency and lessen interference.

Reference: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/is-video-assistant-referee-technology-ruining-football-china-daily-contributor