Will VAR ever be accepted? Maybe not in its current form, so how about adapting it to a challenge system?
You may not have heard of FIFA’s Football Video Support (FVS), which is being trialled in several leagues, including Liga F, the top flight of women’s football in Spain.
According to FVS, a coach receives two challenges per match. When they are activated, the field referee approaches the monitor to observe the incident and make a decision. There is no VAR poring over the footage, just a replay operator to show the incident to the referee.
Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford likes the theory.
“With VAR involved, it would be like cricket,” Pickford said. “They have two decisions and the captain has to make sure they review at the right time, in as many seconds. I think that would keep the speed of the game high and make it flow.”
Sounds good? It has its merits. It is assumed that there will be better final results, although tests have shown that this is not always the case, and the referee continues to make errors on the screen.
Match of the Day host Gabby Logan believes there’s a different way to do it.
“It’s about having a time limit on the VAR,” he said. “We all agree he’s here to stay, and he often does good things, but the time it can take is exhausting. It stops the game. People get angry at that.
“If it was just 90 seconds, I think we’d fix it a lot because if it’s not clear and obvious in 90 seconds, it’s not clear and obvious.”
But for former England defender Stephen Warnock, the solution is simpler: get rid of VAR.
“I’m tired of players not celebrating goals, fans not knowing what’s going on in the stadium, and there are too many inconsistencies and it’s down to human error, which is still a huge problem,” he said.
