Commentary

• VAR stands for video assistant referee.
• It has been used in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the US since 2016, and gradually introduced to most major football matches around the world.
• VAR was eventually written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018.
• VAR uses video footage to assess the decisions made by the head referee to evaluate incidents in a more precise way.
• Its purpose is to minimize or eliminate human error and referee bias which can substantially impact the match results.
• It enables incidents to be replayed and reviewed in slow motion meaning.
• Incidents it addresses are categorised as: goals, penalty decisions, direct red card incidents and mistaken identity.
• It is used only for "clear and obvious errors", and "serious missed incidents".
• The technology allows us a greater chance of applying the correct outcomes - in scenarios where there is such a thing as a correct outcome.
• This is where the issue lies.
• It can be interpreted that it is not VAR that is the issue, but that it illuminates issues of ambiguity in the Laws of the Game relating to a disconnect between observation and application.
• Because of this, the Laws of the Game have and are being changed to account for this new level of observation provided by VAR.
• For example, the previous conditions for a handball included vague statements such as 'It is an offence if a player deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm', where the deliberateness requires a degree of interpretation that cannot be determined through VAR.
• Following the ammended, more specific rules for handball in 2019, a record number of penalties for handball were awarded.
• Many found this unfair and protested, leading the rules to be eased once again.
• However, this back and forth caused more negative feelings towards the effects of VAR where certain penalties may or may not have been awarded based on the rules at the time of the match, which would have seen a different outcome had the match been a week earlier for example.
• This highlights the key danger of VAR, where the fundamental rules of the game are being constantly changed to improve the efficiency of VAR.
• Instead of solving the problem of subjectivity in the game, it can be argued VAR caused further controversy and rather lead to an increasing black-and-white lens of elements of the game that were never intended to be so objective.
• On the other hand, arguments can be made that the game rules have always been an evolutionary process, and it is not too late to implement changes that increase clarity and objectivity is now that it is possible.

VAR was brought in for the sake of TV but also betting companies. It makes dodgy decisions less likely and hence outcomes more predictable. This also ties into the fact that football is now a business and not a sport, certainly in the Premier League. VAR helps mitigate risk which is good for business.
When watching a match on TV during the VAR decisions there is commentary and replays being shown so it isn't as boring. When watching in a stadium it is a most bizarre experience.