It has been a bad weekend for some football fans with VAR once again taking all the headlines, and for the wrong reasons once again.
Newcastle and West Ham both had goals disallowed after VAR intervened, Aston Villa had a goal ruled out because the linesman didn’t wait for the attack to finish before flagging Coutinho offside (wrongly) and in the Merseyside Derby, Virgil Van Dijk was only given a yellow card for his late tackle on Amadou Onana.
This afternoon on Twitter, I asked former Premier League referee Mark Halsey his thoughts on the Van Dijk tackle.
Halsey believes that if referee Anthony Taylor had issued a red card then even with the intervention of VAR, the red card wouldn’t have been overturned. Which makes you ask the question. Why was VAR not used to check for serious foul play?
VAR is supposed to be used to correct clear and obvious errors, and help referee’s when they have made the wrong decisions. Unfortunately, it is the people in charge of VAR that are the issue and this has been the case since it was brought into the Premier League.
Most teams in the league will be on the end of a bad decision which is expected, as referees are only humans, but when VAR has the chance to help someone out, surely it needs to be investigated.
When we look at some of the decisions over the weekend, Aston Villa goal disallowed vs Manchester City, West Ham disallowed vs Chelsea and Van Dijk was not sent off for Liverpool. One pattern that is clear, is the Sky 6 getting the protection.
What is your opinion on VAR?
Let us know in the comments, or get in touch via our socials on Facebook or Twitter @EFCVital
Up next… read out match review of the Merseyside Derby HERE
The referee who was sitting with the pundits described why it wasn’t a red card. Because Virgil’s foot was going downwards and not upwards or horizontal, it is only a yellow card. That is the rules. Halsey, who was a crap referee anyway, is not up to date with the rules.
Obviously VAR is not fit for purpose and is dragging our game into an americanised mess
I seriously believe that the VAR officials are frightened of giving decisions against the top 6 teams for fear they will lose their lucrative jobs on the VAR team. Even Sky don’t come out fully to criticize the decisions of the VAR team. I believe every contentious incident should be looked at by them regardless of the decision taken by the referee. The final outcome has an effect on not just the match result but the man in the street takes a punt on goals scorers, yellow cards and red cards along with hundreds of other betting outcomes. I would like to see retrospective outcomes be brought back as it has been show.n since VAR began there are hundreds or even thousands of wrong decisions taken.
Spot on var is just legalized corruption to protect the top teams it really is beyond a joke I no longer trust the authorities in charge of our once beautiful game
Actually, the “Americanized” way that video review is used in sports here is miles above how it’s implemented in England. It certainly isn’t a mess in baseball or gridiron football. One thing I love in the gridiron football is that the referee, after seeing the replay, comes out to the middle of the field, turns his microphone on, and tells the crowd and TV viewing audience whether or not a play was upheld or overturned and why.
VAR should be gone now.
It’s ruining the game, it’s ruining our game!
The Ref on the pitch should be in charge.
Why have a ref, if VAR is making all the decisions!?
It’s shit, it’s corrupt, it spoils the game and the people who are “VAR” know this!
Go back to letting the Referee on the playing field take charge of the game in stead of allowing the corrupt, biased referees who are ruining our game.
They all need investigating.
There should be neutral referees in charge of games not referees who support a team they’re on the pitch with.
It makes my blood boil! I’m just sick of it, it’s not right, it needs to be gone!
Give it the Red Card🟥
Get Rid Of VAR!! 🤬
VAR is becoming more of a farce and is not helping the game. Rather use VAR only for the ball crossing the line in the goal area. Don’t use it for offside or anything else as the whole system of applying the rules differ from game to game.