Football’s video muddle

The video assistant referee, or VAR, was meant to iron out football refereeing mistakes. But the recent Confederations Cup in Russia provided plenty of evidence of how far VAR, which reviews decisions made by the referee with the use of video footage, has to go before it can live up to its billing of maximum benefit, minimum interference. VAR’s original mandate, as stated by the International Football Association Board, the body in charge of the laws of football, was two-fold — to achieve 100 per cent accuracy, while not “destroying the essential flow” of the game. It has achieved neither.