VAR is for those who don’t really get football
IT took almost three minutes for the decision to be made that Raheem Sterling was at best three millimetres offside, which meant a goal Manchester City scored on Saturday at West Ham was disallowed.
In case you didn’t see it, part of Sterling’s shoulder was a fraction closer to the goal than a West Ham defender’s shoulder before he teed up team-mate Gabriel Jesus who was not offside but had a goal taken off him.
In the same game, Sergio Aguero took and missed one of the worst penalties of all time but was allowed a second chance because West Ham players had encroached on the box before the City man had touched the ball.
That some City players had also crossed the 18-yard line either didn’t matter or was ignored.
Wolves thought they had scored at Leicester in the 53rd minute of their match and celebrated as such. Then, 98 seconds later, that goal was taken away from them because the ball had brushed off the arm of one of their players in the lead-up.
What makes a game without any goals even more disappointing? A game in which it takes more than three minutes to take one away from a team because of the slightest infringement that, at the time, no-one spotted.
And, at both these English grounds, those who had paid to go along were left mystified as to what was being discussed.
That’s VAR for you.
Now, the video assistant referees were not wrong in any one of these four incidents. Well, not wrong in the sense that the rules were applied. But does that make it right?
Have we got to the stage when a player scores, fans celebrate and then everyone looks back to see if they are “going upstairs” or not just to check whether the winger who got the fourth-last touch was half an inch off five seconds before the ball hit the net.
I can hear the commentators: “We’re just going to the VAR now folks so this might be a good time to make a cup of tea. And, while we wait, here’s a word from our sponsors.”
Even if a team scores and VAR, after half-a-dozen views, says it was okay, that’s the sheer joy of a goal celebration muted, of players and supporters, because there will always be the thought it might be taken away.
The very best thing about going to a game is jumping up and down when your team scores. It’s the spontaneous pandemonium we all live for. Standing about a bit confused while, in a box somewhere, the goal police have one last look to see if it hit a shoulder or not is a slow death.
Imagine, if you will, myself standing on top of a mountain shouting: “Noooooo.”
This isn’t football. This is a disaster.
The game is beautiful and also flawed. Bad decisions are made by officials, players and managers. We then all argue over it, debate over pints and later the coffee machine at