VAR ⚽ Will They Get Rid Of It? No, Of Course Not!

Caoimhin O’Muraile ⚽ Last week in TPQ my article titled Where Did it all Go I stated “the subject of VAR is for another day” which to keep continuity is today.

Not only does this absurd system of refereeing an Association Football match make a mockery of the man in the middle, the Referee, and the game the poor sod is charged with pretending to officiate over it also has much more sinister economic benefits for a small number of people. These economic benefits for those whose only interest is profit at the expense of the game constitute other reasons for getting rid of the system from a fan's viewpoint. It is also a reason why it is here to stay. The problem is many of those who profit also influence the powers that be who will decide, irrespective of what the paying fans think, whether this farce remains or not!

Personally, I agree with former Everton youngster and Manchester United Ace, Wayne Rooney, in demanding the removal of VAR once and for all. It is the curse within what remains of the so-called modern game after these know nothing powers that be have fucked around with the rules to a point where the game is unidentifiable with the one I and many others grew up with. For example they have made it impossible for a human referee to judge with the naked eye if a player is offside thus making demand for VAR and SAOT or some other form of assistance inevitable. These rule changes making life impossible for the match officials are part of a process which involves VAR making the game more of a farce dependent on technology than a game. Back in the seventies and eighties they would not have got away with VAR because football fans then, the genuine article, took a more proactive part in decision making often by invading the pitch. If this so-called new technology had been in place back then the game could well have been made unplayable! There is room for technology, no doubt about that, for example the little device available to referees indicating whether the ball is over the goal line or not but there is no need for VAR to decide this important decision. The small machine the referee wears on his wrist and gives a signal if the ball crosses the line for a goal is a progressive piece of technology.

VAR has given football two sets of rules depending which division a team participates. The so-called Premier League has VAR at all grounds for every game which the fans cough up to cover the expense of at the turnstiles. However, in the Championship (formerly the second division), after the PGMO (Professional Game Match Officials) the organisation representing referees, linesmen, and fourth officials, presented VAR it was rejected by the clubs. They voted to adopt goal line technology as outlined above but not VAR. This means two sets of playing conditions and rules exist in the game, one set, involving VAR, in the top flight and another set for the other 72 teams making up the English Football League (EFL). In the FA Cup it becomes more problematic. In the 2025/26 season VAR and SAOT (Semi Automated Offside Technology, another farce they have quietly introduced) only came into play from the fifth round onwards. This is another sign of the elitist nature of the modern game because most teams enter the FA Cup much, much earlier than this round. It is expected, though not a given, that by the fifth round the competitors will be from the PL or the Championship the former using VAR for every game in the league. Championship sides do not use VAR and therefore must adjust to the new rules should they qualify for the fifth round. Two sets of rules only one game, another fuck up to make money for the high-tech companies, and puts lower league clubs who still use human beings to referee at a disadvantage should they reach round five of the FA Cup when VAR takes over.

Football supporters are opposed to the system but their opinion seems not to count. It appears that “three quarters of Premier League fans are against the use of VAR” according to the Irish Daily Mirror Monday 30th March. “Nearly 8,000 supporters took part in the Football Supporters Association poll to assess attitudes to the technology”. This was a sizable number of supporters, considering many of those attending games today are tourists and not fans in the traditional sense at all, so finding 8,000 genuine supporters to participate was an achievement in itself!

The results show just how unpopular it has become with more than 97 per cent (ibid) of respondents opposing the statement that VAR makes watching football more enjoyable, while more than 90 per cent disagree that it has made the match-going experience better.

When supporters were asked:

if they support the use of VAR, meanwhile (ibid), 76 per cent said they do not, with more than 70 per cent disagreeing that it has improved the overall accuracy of refereeing decisions.

Fans feel that the time taken to reach decisions “remains a source of great frustration” with fewer than three per cent:

of those polled agree that decisions are reached in a reasonable amount of time, and an overwhelming majority do not feel they are now being made more quickly, despite efforts to speed up the process. More than 90 per cent also feel the technology has removed the joy of goal celebrations.

Supporters surveyed did however come down on the side of goal line technology – not including VAR – which “was backed by more than 93 per cent”. The feelings of supporters are clearly anti-VAR and fans want rid of the infernal nuisance or, to be blunt, the fucking waste of time, energy and space. Will the voice of these supporters be listened to? No, like fuck they will, such killjoys interfere with the huge profits made by technology companies!

One of the major obstacles to the removal of VAR are profits and has little to do with improving the game of football. This pretence of match improvement is what the authorities hide behind to justify the continuation of VAR, a proven failure, claiming to have the fans on side. This is clearly wrong if the Football Supporters Association survey is anything to go by a representative group whose opinions only count, it would appear, if they agree with the so-called authorities. On this and many other occasions they do not therefore their views are ignored, such groups are probably considered a ‘fucking nuisance, trouble makers’ by the football authorities and tech companies when they make the ‘wrong call’.

VAR is highly profitable for the technology companies which is why the football authorities dare not even hint at getting rid of it. Though highly profitable for these companies VAR represents a huge cost to football and the clubs involved. Once again evidence the interests of the game are being “sacrificed on the altar of big business”. Companies providing VAR such as Hawk-Eye innovations, part of Sony, have seen profits surge thanks in no small part to VAR. In 2024 reportedly profits for the firm behind VAR:

surpassed €24 million, approximately £20 million, with revenues exceeding €93 million largely driven by football. While the tech providers make a profit VAR is expensive for those using it.

The clubs have to facilitate the use of VAR and this expense is passed onto the long-suffering fans at the turnstiles. Put bluntly, and if the above survey is any indicator, the supporters are being forced to pay for something they neither want or can see any benefits from, a little bit like paying for a stairlift in a bungalow! No wonder the huge tech companies who also influence what is said about their product on football magazine programmes like Match of the Day and various satellite television programmes take no notice of supporters' wishes. Commentators increasingly sound supportive of VAR simply because they dare do nothing else. Agree with it or find another job is probably the policy, not perhaps the BBC or BSB but the technology companies who, no doubt, have fingers in the economic affairs of the TV companies.

VAR is a curse to the game, not the only one granted but certainly the worst offender, which should be enough in itself to dispose of it. Do that and the ridiculous offside rules can be modified, liberalised, as can what constitutes a tackle and what is deemed a foul, decisions for the referee and only the referee. With the huge profits made by the technology companies the views of the paying supporters can take a running jump! More fucking fools those who pay to gain admittance to games, matches no longer refereed by humans but technology and the profits generated by such so-called progress. As Artificial Intelligence advances and the use of AI increases the game will soon by refereed entirely by computers and, who knows, perhaps even played by Androids which would avoid the expense of paying players wages!!

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.