VAR has ruined football?

Agree 100%
Players score and can't celebrate
Fans waiting 5 minutes
I used to go everywhere home and away all through the 80,s and 90,s, when you were just pleased to get home safe after an away match...
But the atmosphere back then was electric...
I go to the odd game now and it's just so sterile...

Off to Wembley tomorrow for the League One play off game, be the first time I'll experience VAR, let's see how it goes.

The referees and linesmen did a great job before VAR. Unfortunately we didn’t believe it at the time!
I think the very tight margins for offside is one of my biggest bugbears, especially when it takes them several minutes to call it. Another one is where it’s all down to personal interpretation, maybe a foul leading up to a goal, where half the people think it is a foul and the other half don’t.

I’ve watched less games this season than any other year. Not sure if that is down to VAR or not though. I’ve also just got rid of Sky Sports after about 15 years. If I want to watch a game now I will watch it slightly delayed on the firestick. My monthly subscription is down from over £100 a month to £42. I don’t think I’ve ever had it so low.

I’ve now got Sky Stream. Live football games on there are over 30 seconds behind live. The firestick isn’t far behind that.

Certainly ruined it for me I often think back to Barcelona back in 99 and wonder what if there was var then the celebrations would have been so different and who knows with these ridiculous conclusions they come up with the result might also have been different.

Just seen a 12 minute review in Indonesia. Who ever thinks this was a good idea?

If var goes in your favour you get to celebrate

Not the same, of course, and it does detract from the spontaneity
and pure joy that was one of the main reasons to attend.

May 24, 2025 -- 6:17AM, lovegod wrote:

Off to Wembley tomorrow for the League One play off game, be the first time I'll experience VAR, let's see how it goes.

48 game season (including PO semi finals). Most important match of the season for both sides. It won't be just you seeing it for the first time. Most (all?) of the players. Referees, linesman. Managers. What could possibly go wrong. Not like it's an important match.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Refs do things differently in different divisions.

The ref today has been in charge for one League One game all season.

He's also done 1 League Two game, 26 Championship games and 2 Premier League.

Maybe they should go with the referee but as in cricket give each side maybe two challenges per match. If they win the challenge they keep it.

Then we will see how much these managers know about the rules.

Part of the problem is the bias and ignorance of the fans. Watch a rugby match and even if you did not see the incident someone will tell you exactly what went on before the cameras find it. There is a lack of honesty and cheating in football, which, doesn’t help itself.

The procedural of the VAR leaves a lot to be desired. Whilst some decisions are just so wrong like the goal keeper hand ball I would say most are correct. The time is an issue. I love Hawkeye in cricket but the rules are generally quite clear
Seems people forget the hand of God. IMHO that is what VAR should be about, not technicalities to get a decision for your team. Leave it to the ref but a challenge system might be a better idea.

Might be better but still ruins spontaneity

May 24, 2025 -- 12:57PM, ----you-have-to-laugh--- wrote:

Might be better but still ruins spontaneity

Yep.

Just seen the winning (losing) penalty in the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen keeper wouldn't celebrate until the check done. That's not football, that's robotics.

There is billions of pounds bet on these games Var is frustrating but after linesman put flag up of offside in a Tottenham game when player was ten feet inside his own half something had to be done.But even with var we have corruption like the Liverpool game where they disallowed good goal its a fecking joke you cant stop the game once its starts walob .

Betting has ruined the game full stop.

Shef Utd played all season without VAR and yesterday were denied a goal which would have been 2-0 by VAR which otherwise would have been allowed.

I'll get my little violin out for them and you mags :

May 25, 2025 -- 3:46PM, leazes67 wrote:

Shef Utd played all season without VAR and yesterday were denied a goal which would have been 2-0 by VAR which otherwise would have been allowed.

it was offside though

Had the ref not blown early Aston Villa might have been in the region of £150 million better off in a years time.

People criticise VAR all you like. It could it save Villa today.

Keeper had clear view of shot on goal imo goal should have stood .

GeorgeBrush25 May 25 15:51Joined: 16 Jun 02 | Topic/replies: 66,150 | Blogger: GeorgeBrush's blog
I'll get my little violin out for them and you mags


A cup win and Champions league...you can get a full orchestra if you like

What is also annoying is Isak is probably going to remain an employee of Saudi Arabia and will not be wearing a red shirt.

VAR was prevented from making the right decision.

May 25, 2025 -- 6:49PM, Whisperingdeath wrote:

Had the ref not blown early Aston Villa might have been in the region of £150 million better off in a years time.People criticise VAR all you like. It could it save Villa today.

Perhaps it's just me, but so what if refs make mistakes.

Kieffer Moore made a much worse mistake yesterday for example.

Has anybody actually considered that all that tosh surrounding the injury to Taiyo Ayonwi might have played a very large part in todays farce at OT?
Last week Sian Massey was the devil incarnate for allowing play to continue at Forest.
This week its the hapless Ref in the Utd Villa game for whistling too soon.

Maybe the officials are not to blame for this mess. The incessant carp we have to listen from the media, fans, pundits giving their irrelevant opinions has brought us here.

If I were Howard Webb I would use my media opportunities to call out all these numpty media types. Start kicking ass and taking names.

You mean the media don't give a sh!t about the bigger picture. Really?!

VAR in a friendly? Game's gone.

I Referee Pyramid Football. Most likely, the Villa goal would've been disallowed by VAR had the Ref not blown hist whistle
Besides, everyone blames that one decision, whereas the reality of Villa's predicament was a function of dozens of Key Match Decisions over 38 games, which average out in favour or against with or without VAR

Big Cat, the key thing there you say is 'without VAR'. It has ruined football.

They may average out over a decade but over a season
it's easy for a club to get a bad rub.

VAR should be correcting errors and not re refereeing the game.

We saw good use of var in champs league and over intrusive var in Belguim v wales

I agree the villa goal would be ruled out by var as he stood on goalies hand,
but can never be sure var comes to right decision.

Engerland equaliser ruled out v Senegal... I thought he turned
his body and moved arm to ball, so hand ball, but most reckon it was not.

Champs league final

Having refereed for 10 years, it's occurred to me that the refereeing community and the wider football community are divorced. Indeed, I'm not sure they were ever married. In my experience, everyone hates referees, and referees hate players and managers
VAR has ruined the game. The Clubs vote for it because they're entirely focused on that one perceived decision that makes a difference. But all that's happened is the subjectivity has shifted from what is or is not a foul, to what is or is not a C&O error. The former is easier to determine than the latter. Overall, they do get 'more' decisions  correct with VAR, but they patronise us with insulting stats to make it look infinitely better than it is, whilst the impact to the game more than offsets the gain. But we don't get to vote on VAR. Nobody cares as long as there's bums on seats and the commercial rights are worth a fortune. I tune out from the Pro game, but I'm in a small minority

It all averages out quite quickly. 'The Law of Big Numbers' (stats more reliable the bigger the sample) lead to a strong averaging trend quite quickly. Just like, xG and the other zillion stats eventually lead to points on the board (or not , as the case may be)
When a ref makes a mistake, we hate it, but we might forgive the ref deep down quite quickly. When we're wronged by VAR (and we are frequently wronged by VAR), it is infinitely more annoying and it exacerbates the intensity of our emotions towards all the official involved

Sad to hear big cat.

It does impact negatively on live football, but if it was correcting errors
then you'd tolerate it.

As kids we loved referees as we got a fairer game, and having had refs you learnt
to accept decisions don't always go your way.

Keep up the good work.

Refereeing the game of football is much more of an art than a science. But VAR necessitates that it's a science, but the Laws of the Game are not fit for this new purpose
There's some quite brilliant individuals out there. It takes enormous substance to ref in front of thousands. The pressure and stress present a formidable personal challenge. That said, the refereeing of the game is a farcical and amateurish mess, and that's not down to the individuals I mention
Anyway, it's a very complex subject, but VAR and football evidently don't work well together
I promise you however, there's a very high chance VAR would've disallowed the Villa goal. A lot of senior referees are of that opinion. Imagine the controversy then

Yeah there's clear video of him standing on goalies hand, that wasnt
highlited at time, as var didn't get involved.

Maybe the ref got lucky, but he likely also learnt a lesson to not blow
so quickly

....

Meanwhile forest player in hospital after late flag and new system being trialled
at World club Cup so that an offside will trigger a beep in linos ear
and signal to raise flag

Systems are very fluid and maybe we will get to promised land...

It's human to make errors, and as fans we see what we see.... I've got
friends dotted around the stadium and it's surprising at times what they see
from different angles and lines of sight... Makes after game chat interesting

Then you see the video and it becomes clearer

A number of things have ruined watching football for me, VAR being one. It was for me the last straw.

Players diving, rolling around in apparent agony for 5 minutes from a kick in the shin ,arguing

every call by officials, celebrating goals for 5 minutes as if the end of World War 3 has just been

declared etc etc.(unless they are still behind in which case they run fast back to the centre)


Worst of all is the lack of enforcement of certain rules by referees. I saw Harry Kane complain to


the referee that she had blown the half time whistle while England were on the attack. She is the

first ref I've seen do that in years. She correctly blew time. Most refs these days allow play to

go on until a goal is scored or the attacking side looses the ball, even adding time for corners

to be taken. Goalies often hold on to the ball for 20 seconds or more when the rule is 6. Now maybe

6 is a bit short. Make it ten. The ref could hold arms in the air and indicate the passing seconds

by counting like a boxing referee. More than 10 it's a free kick.

As for VAR all I can say is it should be binned. Deciding whether a goal is allowed or not by a

pixel is absurd. Looking at replays in slow motion often results in a completely false impression,

the incident being taken out of context. And why do they often ask referees to go to the screen?

Surely if there isn't a clear and obvious error the Ref's decision should stand.

It's sad but,I'm sure like many others on here, the game is hardly worth watching any more.

And why do they often ask referees to go to the screen?


Because they feel the ref has made an error, and ref is given another chance
to get it right, in their opinion.

If it's there to correct wrong decisions it should be used to correct all wrong decisions not just a select few. The Belgium corner that wasn't v. Wales for example. Then the game would only last about 4 hours. Just dump it.

You can't correct every wrong decision because some of them are subjective.
So not wrong but an acceptable decision based on what happened.

2 refs may differ, that's the kind of decision you stick with onfield

Automated offside buzzing the Assistant Referee has potential to improve the speed of offside decisions. Most post-goal forensics that kill spontaneity are offside toenail jobs
As a Referee, I think everyone forgets just how different incidents look from different angles
Angle is the biggest contributor to disagreement. Distance from the incident is far less important
Going to the screen is a total waste of time. It's only done to mask the reality of the VAR being the primary arbiter of all key match decisions

The game is refereed out of fear. There's a 'thing' called 'safe refereeing'
Safe refereeing is a strategy employed by all professional and semi-professional referees. It's based on the premise that we get less grief for disallowing contentious goals than we do if we allow them. However, it's taken a lot further than that to the point that goalkeepers and defenders are excessively protected. Especially in the semi-pro game, we're coached to kill a game that gets heated as the stop/start approach takes the wind out of the player's sails but it also ruins it as a spectacle (for paying spectators!). The Laws are applied very selectively. Again, we're mostly coached to **** foot about instead of just applying the rules indiscriminately. There's so much wrong with the way the game is refereed, but much of it is down to the culture we've encouraged. As Ref's we've dug a hole for ourselves that is inescapable. The pro game is purely refereed to ensure nobody gets sent off because it spoils the game and potentially impacts the commercial side of the game. In the end, the commercial side of the game is literally all that matters and referees further down the pyramid a totally screwed as everyone copies exactly what they see on TV. I can't see it ever changing

By the way. I can promise you all, the referees in the Premier League (and the wider pro game) do not referee the way they want to. They referee the way they're told to
It leads to a degree of consistency, but that does arguably translate into consisently crap

Money has ruined the game YOU need Var as goals were been disallowed a mile on side