Why football has taken VAR a step too far
SIR – Followers of rugby must scratch their heads at the horlicks football is making of the review system (Sport, February 23).
The primary problem is that the referee is a powerless spectator in the process. He does not instigate it and has virtually no control of the outcome. The VAR (video assistant referee) man is miles away from the ground. The spectators are completely in the dark.
In rugby the referee controls the whole thing. He calls for it and can see it on the big screen, as can the spectators. He then makes a judgment in collaboration with the man controlling the technology, along with his touch judges. It nearly always works. When will football learn?
John Taylor
Purley, Surrey
SIR – The fact that the debate over VAR decisions now dominates sports coverage – as opposed to the footballing skills or human errors that led to the need for referral to VAR in the first place – surely demonstrates that VAR is not working and should be scrapped.
Football is, at its most basic level, a game – the primary aim of which is to entertain. Long breaks in play, questions over the length of one player’s toenail against another’s and never-ending discussion over the rights and wrongs of a particular decision are not entertaining.
Sport, football included, involves human beings, all prone to making errors – and this contributes most to the entire viewing experience, warts and all. Ian Hammond
York