The sports industry has developed technologically in the past few decades, emphasizing revolutionizing the industry more significantly than ever due to the sector’s pull and the need to reach the global audience while maintaining quality. Some of the most popular sports viewed in the whole world include football, soccer in the United States, Basketball, Rugby, American Football, Tennis, Athletics, among many other disciplines. Sports is an aesthetic industry, and most people have at least one type of sport that they love to get engaged in due to their support of that specific sport or to pass the time. Most countries in the world are involved in sports, with every sport having global and domestic tournaments, some of which are popular worldwide. This essay will examine the impact of technology on football, the most popular sport globally, and the effect of the new technology of Video Assistant Referee in football and how it has affected the sport.
As the most-watched and popular sport in the world, football has had its fair share of criticisms and controversies, especially in the aspects of refereeing. The sport has been popular since the 17th century, and it has only grown. In these modern times, football has developed into a highly competitive sport. Most tacticians implement the use of technology in their training and briefing to try and outwit their opponents. The sport’s growth to gain a global fan base has ensured that the sport has enough exposure, which has created enough financial power to introduce technological advancements that make the game more entertaining and promote fair play. The money in circulation seems extravagant, with football stars being paid substantial amounts of money that have made the sport extremely competitive.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was introduced to help the on-pitch referee make the right decisions because due to the fast nature of the game. Sometimes the infield referee can make a wrong decision or fail to see a situation clearly, and therefore be unable to make an informed decision. It involves an extra referee who reviews controversial moments in football and the head referee’s decisions through the use of the video footage and communicates with the head referee using a headset (McGuckian et al., 861-880). The technology was specifically introduced to help minimize human errors made by head referees and linesmen in games, affecting the trajectory of matches. So far, technology has produced mixed results. Some stakeholders and fans want it to be scraped while others want it to continue, under some modifications.
The VAR was introduced into football and passed into law by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018. The technology involves a video review room, with the referees review the proceedings of the game and contentious decisions like goals, offsides, and red cards placed there. The head referee uses a pitchside monitor to review an incident for more clarity, especially when they are advised to do so by the VAR. The technology operates with the philosophy of “minimal interference, maximum benefit,” and the interference into the game by the VAR is done only when necessary. That incident might change the trajectory of the game. It is essential because it helps the referee to correct “serious missed incidents.”
Some of the decisions that can be reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee include The goal or no goal decision that examines a variety of factors before deciding if a goal that has been scored should stand or not. Some of the factors include if the attacking team has committed a foul, if the ball has entered the goal, offside before the goal, encroachment, handball, ball out of play, or other offenses. The VAR is also used in reviewing if a specific incident can be a penalty or not. Such decisions can be made by looking at various factors that include if the defending team committed an offense that warrants a penalty or not if an offense was penalized or not, among other factors. It can also be used in red card incidents to review if an experience warrants a red card or not. In this instance, it is useful in identifying foul severe play incidents that were unpunished. The last event that needs the use of the VAR is mistaken identity, to reverse a card that was wrongfully awarded or upgrade a card from yellow to red if a player had committed a serious offense (Ugondo et al., 1058-62).
The VAR team consists of mainly professional referees stationed in the Video Operating Room (VOR). The referees are responsible for reviewing decisions in the game that fall under the four categories. Then they advise the head referee on the most appropriate course of action through a headset. The referee indicates that a VAR check is ongoing by continually pointing to their ear. Sometimes, the VAR check causes delays in the game, and the on-pitch referee has typically to restart the match after the inspection is complete and no mistake was identified. Sometimes, the VAR performs “silent checks,” whereby they monitor a situation first while allowing the game to continue then inform the head referee afterward. After a VAR check, the possible scenarios are that the head referee can overturn an earlier decision after being advised by the VAR, they may decide to review the incident further using the pitchside monitor, or the head referee can choose to ignore the advice of the VAR (Carlos et al., 646-653).
Is the VAR Destroying the Football Atmosphere?
The football fraternity has always been known for its explosive atmosphere and the passionate fans that grace the stadium to view football games and cheer their team on. The fans are known to be very loyal, and usually, the stadiums erupt into noise and celebrations whenever a goal is scored, and other things happen in a game of football, which makes the sport more exciting. According to several football stars such as James Milner, the VAR has wholly ruined that atmosphere, a Liverpool Football Club in England midfielder, and several other football stars. The sentiment is echoed around the football world, with fans, players, managers, and even shareholders sharing the same opinion.
These days, the game is interrupted severally in delays that take even minutes as the VAR conducts their checks and the referees go to consult the pitchside monitor. This disrupts the rhythm of the match and the players’ enthusiasm, therefore making the atmosphere at football stadiums these days to be labored. Even the scoring team and the fans celebrate goals cautiously nowadays because there is always the fear that the VAR will cancel the plan and take ages reviewing first before doing so. In the years before the VAR was introduced, the footballing world only used the goal-line technology, the only aspect of technology that could disrupt the game then. The goal-line technology was fast and swift, and therefore it was widely accepted in all quarters, unlike the VAR.
What Are the Ramifications of VAR?
All humans make mistakes. That is the fact that everyone needs to be widely accepted, especially the proponents of the technology. VAR technology’s primary purpose is to correct the referees’ mistakes, which most of the time are minimal. The VAR is not helping, but rather ruining football, turning it into a mundane, technical sport that overly relies on football. The use of technology in sports is fair, but in this essence, it is eroding the aesthetic nature of the sport. It has made it standard for players and coaches to request for its intervention even in the face of the slightest of offenses, which makes it excruciating to watch. If the VAR is here to correct the referees’ mistakes, who will fix the player’s errors, let’s say misses a penalty or commits a handball foul in their penalty area? It is fair to say that human nature and passion for the game made the football sport famous globally, and the VAR is progressively dehumanizing the mark. Therefore, corrections need to be done, or the technology scrapped entirely for the more significant football good.
Is VAR Technology a Good Idea for Football?
VAR seems to have many failures, especially in the time aspect, but overall, it has helped the sport of football. Football is now a lucrative sport, with the sector of great importance even to other industries such as media and journalism, and generating lots of revenue. As a result, the football world cannot afford to make any mistakes, and that is why VAR is essential because it helps eliminate errors. The introduction of VAR has helped reduce the number of simulations that players engage in to win penalties (Spitz et al., 1-7). Despite the technology making the sport a soft contact sport, whereby many footballers now go to the ground after minimal contact with the opposition, it has helped streamline most of the problems faced before its introduction.
The VAR was not destined to be instant progress, and from what we have seen, it is still in its adaptation stage. The conclusion that we can all agree on VAR is headed in the right direction if the mistakes can be eliminated and the technology is applied in moderation. The game is a lucrative sector these days, and it is not wise to place the pressure of the game, along with the blame for the referee’s mistakes alone. The only challenge that should be confronted is accepting the sport by all shareholders in the sport and tolerating it as it works on getting better. Also, policymakers need to balance the use of technology. It should not be used too much in a way that it sucks the entertainment of football, while at the same time, it should be useful in eliminating mistakes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, VAR technology is a topic that needs to be extensively looked at, with corrections on the right areas, making it a must-have item in world football. Despite the inadequacies, the VAR has already developed into an essential component of football, and the way it has seamlessly blended into the game shows that if used well, technology can positively affect football and society at large. The use of the VAR has helped reduce the number of mistakes present in the sport, and despite it being a cliché, the technology will only get better with time.
Works Cited
Carlos, Lago-Peñas, Rey Ezequiel, and Kalén Anton. “How does Video Assistant Referee (VAR) modify the game in elite soccer?” International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport 19.4 (2019): 646-653.
McGuckian, Thomas B., Michael H. Cole, and Gert-Jan Pepping. “A systematic review of the technology-based assessment of visual perception and exploration behavior in association football.” Journal of Sports Sciences 36.8 (2018): 861-880.
Spitz, Jochim, et al. “Video assistant referees (VAR): The impact of technology on decision making in association football referees.” Journal of Sports Sciences (2020): 1-7.
Ugondo, P. L., and Maggai Tsokwa. “Interpreting video assistant referee and goal-line technology communication: the pitch-based referees’ perspectives.” International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development 3.4 (2019): 1058-62.
