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Showing posts with label VAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VAR. Show all posts
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.

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

Peter Anderson ⚽ Much too often these days VAR is having a mare. 

The latest installment saw the VAR at the Coventry v Man U FA Cup semi-final destroy one of the greatest moments in FA Cup history. I was late home on Sunday afternoon and ran in to watch the end of the Liege-Bastoyne-Liege cycling classic. I checked my phone to see the score in the semi-final and saw that Man U were 3-0 up. Game over thought I. 

After the end of the cycling I switched over to catch the end of the footy, just in time to see the ref pointing to the Man U spot. I looked at the score to see it was now 3-2 to Man U and Coventry had a penalty, which they dispatched. Extra time beckoned. And with the teams running out of energy and the game into the final minute of E.T., Coventry did the impossible and found the energy to bag the winner. But wait, VAR was checking for offside. And when the image came back the Coventry player's toe was offside. No goal. One of the greatest comebacks in modern FA Cup history was overturned because of a toe being offside.

This is not what football is about. No advantage was gained by the attacker. The game went to pens which Man U duly won. This can't go on. Something needs done. To add insult to injury, social media is awash with images of Man U's £70m flop, Anthony, goading the Coventry players when the winning pen went in. Classless in the extreme. A symptom of the depths to which the once great Red Devils have fallen.

Also, in FA Cup news, we heard that there will no longer be replays.

Personally I am happy. There are too many games and for the sake of the players the replays need to go. Don't blame the players or the clubs, blame the authorities, who have increased the number of Champions League games, World Cup games and Euro Cup games. The season is too long and there are too many games. The big losers are the small clubs, but this should be compensated by more money being taken from the big clubs and given to the small. I'm all in favour of the fair distribution of wealth, but I won't hold my breath.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

VAR . . . Again

Peter Anderson ⚽ I tuned into the Saturday early kick-off game hoping to see Fulham tanking Man U. 

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The match itself was of poor quality, but there were two notable facts from the game.

Firstly, Harry Maguire played a blinder. The much maligned former captain has become a regular this season and even with Varane back to fitness he has kept his berth in the starting eleven and is playing very well.

The second talking point was the complete shambles that is VAR. United scored a perfectly good goal from a free kick. The free was delivered to the back post where the on rushing Garnacho met the ball and put it back down the "corridor of uncertainty" where Scott MacTominay slotted home. The problem was that while Garnacho was onside Harry Maguire's shoulder was offside,even though Maguire did not get anywhere near the ball. The ref went over and after the review disallowed the goal.

Apparently "subjective offside" rules were breeched so the goal was chalked off for Maguire "interfering with play". It seemed extremely harsh in real time. Maguire was barely offside.

It raises the question of what exactly is an offside? When I played footy as a kid, we self-enforced a "No Poachers Goal" rule when playing in the street. If there is no offside then an attacker can simply stand in the opponent's box and wait for a long hoof up-field.

We all understand this and accept that for a good game you cannot have attacking players standing behind the defence, but FFS, come on. It has got so ridiculous now that lines are drawn and toes and shoulders are deemed offside. Man U's goal in real time looked perfectly good.

We had to wait 4 minutes for a decision and that decsion was to disallow the goal on a technicality. The thing that really gets my goat is that who knows the precise millisecond that the attacker made contact with the ball. The lines are drawn when the VAR ref deems that the attacker played the ball. But it is absolutely crucial to know the exact millisecond as with players moving at speed that millisecond could prove decisive. But do we really have to go to that extreme? If the attacker is more or less level with the last defender should that not be enough? He isn't exactly poaching or even behind the last defender. Can we not have a looser interpretation for the sake of the game?

Another VAR controversy happened on Saturday night during the Toon v Gunners game, in that instance the goal stood but we had another long review. After the game Arteta lost the run of himself and spoke out of turn. If his new, expensive goalkeeper had just caught the ball then there would have been no need for a VAR review. When goals go in the first thought now is if it will pass the VAR review. VAR was brought in to stop the blatant mistakes, like the scorer being behind the last man or a missed deliberate handball. This season, despite the best efforts of the PGMOL, VAR is continuing to ruin games.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

VAR Again

Peter Anderson ⚽ I was so looking forward to Spurs v Liverpool at the weekend and it certainly didn't disappoint in terms of entertainment.

Unfortunately for Reds fans the refereeing upstaged the quality of the football.

Simon Hooper is a liability. When I see him as the ref for any game I despair. He frequently makes mistakes. He just isn't good enough. On the opening day of the season he was stood down for failing to give Wolves a penalty when Man U goalkeeper Onana clattered a Wolves player in the box. He was looking straight at it. Onana took the player clean out of the game without getting the ball. Nailed on pen. Not given.

Yet seven games later and he was handed the biggest fixture of the weekend. Why? I know Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor can't ref every game (unfortunately) but surely they should always be given the games that will have a direct effect on the title race. To be fair to Hooper, VAR was worse and did Hooper no favours. 

Our first inkling that there may be a twat in the VAR hot seat was when Hooper yellow carded Curtis Jones for a bad tackle on Bissouma. Jones misjudged the tackle and caught Bissouma high on the shin. He was going to trap the ball and got it wrong. Bissouma was lucky to escape serious injury but there was no intent on the part of Jones. Hooper had a clear view of the incident in real time. Free kick. Yellow card. Get on with it. But VAR intervened and called Hooper to the screen. As Hooper arrived at the screen he was greeted with a still image capture of Jones' foot impacting Bissouna's leg. At that moment I knew Jones was a goner. Why did VAR show Hooper the bad looking still image first? Were they trying to get Jones sent off? It defo seemed like it. Hooper duely obliged and sent Jones for an early bath. These tackles always look worse in slo-mo, and Hooper had witnessed the same incident in real time from a very close proximity. Yellow was the right decision, but he changed it. 

Hooper and VAR were off to the worst possible start. It got worse! Later in the game Salah's pass was clearly onside but was ruled offside by VAR. It later transpired that VAR knew it was the wrong decision but failed to say or do anything. Had the goal stood, it can be reasonably assumed that Liverpool would have went on take the 3 points. But it didn't.

Then Hooper made another howler when he yellow carded Jota for a nothing touch on a Spurs player. The Spurs player was running with the ball when he clipped Jota and went over. A free kick to Spurs was the correct decision but Hooper added a yellow card. Seconds later Jota commited another stupid fowl and got a second yellow. With the game at 1-1 and Sod's Law very much evident, Liverpool scored an own goal in the last minute to hand the three points to Spurs and bring to an end a game of shame for the PGMOL. They have apologised and stood down the personnel involved, but it really is not good enough.

So, with City losing, Spurs go one point behind the champions. They play first next weekend against Luton and three points will take them top knowing that City face Arsenal at the Emirates on Super Sunday, Liverpool face Brighton on the south coast and Newcastle face West Ham in the capital. Points dropped by some of the chasing pack. Spurs didn't deserve the 3 points last weekend but if they beat Luton it puts them in a great position just before the October international break.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

PGMOL Shame

Caoimhin O’Muraile ⚽ In the modern variant of what was once Association Football, today renamed by me High Finance Soccer, the term Soccer is an American innovation and as they seem to have a monopoly of the game, due in no small part to their mega bucks it seems a fitting title.  

Between the US and Arab billionaires, the game has become a game of Monopoly which happens to have football clubs on the modern playing board. There is, however, some positives about the modern game and one of those is the development of the women’s game. I have watched a couple of matches now, both admittedly involving Manchester United but, as with the men’s game, why would I watch another team unless they’re playing United? I mean, back in the day would I have gone to Elland Road or Anfield if the Man Utd game was called off? No, more chance of finding rocking horse shit than that happening. 

Anyway, last Sunday was the Women’s FA Cup Final played at Wembley between Chelsea and Manchester United. The game attracted a world record for a women’s game of over 77,000, beating the previously held highest between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the final of the Copa de Rey, that was a little over 66,000. So, the women’s game is beginning to gather momentum. How long I ask before the cancer which has fucked the men’s game up, big business, does the same to the women’s sport?

The game itself was a lesson in football, fast competitive and entertaining, even though we lost 1-0. These players, unlike their male counterparts, did not chase the referee, Emily Heaslip, half way round the pitch trying to get an opposition player the red card. This happens all too often in the men’s game and as the great Bobby Charlton once said; he could not “understand pros trying to get fellow professionals sent off”. Neither can I Bobby. I often hoped the referee would send a player off, not a United player, and along with another 60,000 voices cheered like fuck if this happened. But, as for other players hunting the ref down to persuade him to send off a player that is a different scenario. This did not happen once in the women’s final.

Manchester United dominated the first half: no question there, and we had it in the Chelsea net after just twenty seconds only for the lineswoman to flag for offside. This decision was backed up by the ever-ruinous VAR. The goal was, in my eyes, perfectly alright but even a biased bastard like me accepted the official's decision. What I cannot accept, and never will, was the decision of a television set some miles away. The ref and lineswoman might have got it right, OK, I get that, so why fuck about with the VAR? There was no need whatsoever. United continued to dominate but Chelsea may have come the closest to scoring with a header which United keeper, Mary Earps, did brilliantly to get to. Unlike Male goalkeepers the women do not have six foot plus frames to fling across the goal and rely mainly on quick nimble footwork. Mary did very well to keep the Londoners out. On the right flank Nikita Parris continued to hassle Chelsea with her dribbling and crosses.

At half time Chelsea Manager, Emma Hayes, must have kicked her team's arses because they were a different side. The first twenty minutes were 50/50 but slowly Chelsea got into their stride. The breakthrough came for them when Hayes brought on Pernille Harder, rated one of the best women attackers in the world, who slipped the ball into the path of Sam Kerr to slot home. Nikita Parris should have had a penalty for Man Utd when she was brought down clearly inside the area. The referee indicated a freekick just outside the area. Again, I could accept that decision. Reluctantly, the ref fucked up but when VAR, the supposed fool proof support system, backed that decision up it proved to me the entire VAR project should be scrapped. Whichever dogs-bollocks was watching the VAR would have seen, the same as anybody watching, that the foul was inside the area and would have overruled the referee’s decision. I knew then my mistrust of VAR was well founded and that dislike of the system is now hatred of it. If the object of VAR is to minimise if not eradicate referees errors it is not working. All it is doing is wasting time and patience of football fans, that is those of us who can remember pre-VAR days. 

Anyway, Chelsea came out 1-0 winners and lifted the Women’s FA Cup which could have gone either way. Why Marc Skinner substituted Nikita Parris I’ll never know. It turned out a bad move as she was causing the opposition huge problems on the right flank. In the 95th minute United almost equalised and how the Pensioners kept it out is one of those quirks of nature which happen in football from time to time. Manchester United are still top of the league, one point above Chelsea who have a game in hand. If Chelsea take maximum points from their remaining games they will take the league irrespective of how United fair. Let’s hope they lose at least one of their games and we win.

Manchester united women’s team have only been around since 2018, a little under five years, so we are very much a work in progress. FC United of Manchester (United rebels) have had a women’s side far longer than “Big United” and maybe us in the none league, where the game is still played in the traditional way, can teach the so-called big boys a thing or two. “Big United” are newcomers to the women’s game but watch them. If Marc Skinner can keep up the momentum, we are going to be a force in the game to be reckoned with, as Chelsea are now.

Finally, Man Utd present owner, or one of them, Avram Glazer turned up at Wembley for the game. One of the men who are responsible for the huge debts United have round their necks and the dilapidated state of Old Trafford decided today might be a good time to show an interest in one side of the club. Maybe he was hoping those nasty gobshites who follow the men’s team and are always protesting against him and his brothers, would not be present. He was right in one respect, the hecklers who gave him a hard time today, albeit on a smaller scale, were still present. You see, those who follow the women’s side don’t want the Glazers either! A final point, if Chelsea won, only just, on the pitch the United fans on the terra . . . in the seats outnumbered theirs, and they are London based.

United’s women’s side are a work in progress and already they are more than matching, at least for the first forty-five minutes, the established best team around, Chelsea. They can only go onwards and upwards and hopefully emulate the teams of their male counterparts in the past dating from the Busby Babes to the great sides built by Alex Ferguson. Looking at some of United’s present male superstars and one springs to mind, Bruno Fernandez, who is either brilliant, most of the time, or, like at Liverpool away, spends his time moaning and blaming others. If only he’d concentrate all of the time getting his team back on course, he would be complete. I suggest he watches the women’s team play and soaks in some of the commitment they give, all the time!

It can only be hoped the players in the women’s game generally do not become like some of their male counterparts and merely follow the money. Inevitably as a symptom of the capitalist economic system the lure of high wages will start to become a major factor for the elite of the women’s game but let’s hope it does not take preference over playing football and certain loyalties to their team’s supporters.

As a trade unionist and socialist women’s pay equality must be supported in all walks of life and football is no exception, but unlike some of their male counterparts try not to make it the be all and end all of playing. Remember it is a game and those who come to watch are entitled to some loyalty, as the players of both genders have the right to demand the best in wages as are all workers. Women should not be allowed to become exploited. As the men’s pay scale rockets so too should women have parity. What do we expect from gifted players, of both genders, when we see greedy owners like the Glazers, whose leveraged takeover at Old Trafford back in 2005 taking money out of the club, while allowing the stadium, once Britain’s finest, to fall into ruin? There can be little doubt the aspiring women’s game will follow the same trajectory as the men while the present system of club ownership continues.

The women’s game is certainly in the ascendancy as crowds and interest gather momentum. One of the United players, Rachel Williams, is a plasterer by trade and intends returning to the building game when she is finished playing football. A veteran at 35 she must now be coming to the twilight zone of her career so having a trade to fall back on is handy. 

Another sign of how society is changing not only on the field of play but also in the professions modern women are taking up. When I left school the idea of a woman becoming a Plasterer or Bricklayer was unthinkable, it was the factory or, for some, possibly secretarial work. Today these limitations are being broken down which is progressive and these barrier breakdowns are also represented on the football pitch.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Women’s Football

Peter Anderson ⚽ There was finally some good news this week regarding VAR.

Howard Webb, the ex-English referee and current head of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), sacked Lee Mason, also an ex-EPL referee and now VAR official, after failing to call the offside for Arsenal against Brentford.

PGMOL is the governing body for English referees and if ever they needed a strong guiding hand it is now. Recent weeks have seen two massive VAR howlers in the title race: the failure to give offside against Rashford for interfering with play in the Manchester derby and the failure to give an offside against Christian Norsgaard in the Brentford/Arsenal game. It is getting increasingly annoying the amount of fouls missed. If TV can see them and the pundits agree on them, why can't VAR?

Webb and Mason are two interesting characters, both had long careers officiating in the EPL. Webb was brilliant and went on to ref the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, while Mason was shit. I always groaned when he was reffing any game I was watching. He was unsmiling and accident prone and had a list of complaints against him for poor decisions. Webb on the other hand was sure-footed and was promoted to UEFA and then FIFA status.

In 2022 Webb was installed as Chief Refereeing Officer for the governing body in England. When interviewed about his plans, he stated that he wanted to make VAR more professional and transparent, but highlighted that good refereeing started on the pitch, and that good decision making, good player and game management were still the number one priority. In my humble opinion, the EPL's current number one ref, Anthony Taylor, is a fantastic example of this. If only there were more Anthony Taylors! He is also a FIFA ref and attracted high praise of his actions when Christian Erikkson had his onfield heart attack while playing for Denmark.

With the exception of Michael Oliver, the rest of the EPL refs are not good enough. I digress. I had high hopes for Webb's appointment to the top job and so far he hasn't disappointed. Firstly, he appeared live on Sky's Monday Night Football show to lay down his plans and thoughts on refereeing. When asked about the Rashford incident he was categorical in calling it as a clear mistake. Rashford had clearly interfered with play and Webb said that the ref on the pitch should have called it and that VAR should at least have called him to the monitor. Secondly, last week he sacked Lee Mason from his position at VAR for not calling the offside at Brentford. He hadn't even laid the lines on the screen. Mason was as shit a VAR as he was a ref.

So far, Webb is as sure-footed as head of PGMOL as he was as a ref on the pitch. Let's hope it continues. I don't envy him. I firmly believe that VAR can be a great tool like it is in Rugby, but the governing body needs to find the right way to use it and do it quickly. Points have been dropped in the title race this season on glaringly obvious mistakes and that just isn't acceptable.
 
Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

Webb Of Delight

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ What Would Yer Actual Alf Make Of It?

For those of us young enough to remember the BBC sitcom, Till Death Us Do Part which ran from 1965 to 1975 this blog should bring back memories. I thought the programme hilarious as the writer, Johnny Speight, made the arch racist Alf Garnett look the idiot such characters are. 

The comedy starred Warren Mitchel as the East London working-class Tory, racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-Semite and homophobic Alf Garnett. Dandy Nichols played his long-suffering wife, Else or, as he called her, “silly moo” and Tony Booth played his son in law, Mike Rawlins a life-long Labour supporter and everything Alf was not. Una Stubbs played Alf’s daughter Rita who often had to come between her father and husband who were arguing usually over politics or/and football. 

Alf worshiped the Royal family and was prone to going into fits of rage in defence of them. In fact he went into torrents of rants which was his trade mark for anybody who did not agree with him which was most people. He would often get out of bed in a temper and ranted for the entire day about rubbish and the Tory Party. His son in law was a committed socialist and of Irish Catholic origin everything which Alf hated and raged about, often calling him a “Scouse Git”. Alf’s wife, Else, could usually put him in his place with a quick one liner such as suggesting he may have Jewish extraction in his family to which Alf ranted loudly back, he was Church of England “like Her Majesty”. Though he was a Tory he was not a fan of Margaret Thatcher, not against her policies but because she was a woman who should know her place behind “the kitchen sink” and her husband, Denis, “should have taken a hard line with her”, though her right-wing policies he agreed with or thought they did not go far enough. The sitcom had a sequel, In Sickness and in Health which was, in my view again equally funny.

Alf was a fanatical West ham United supporter and one of his pet hates, which he often ranted about were Tottenham Hotspur and their supporters many of whom were/are Jewish. He blamed everybody but himself for his problems and hated anybody who did not support West Ham. On one occasion he blamed unemployment on Merseyside as the reason West Ham had never won the European Cup! This was because, his argument went, these “lazy Scouse Gits” are too lazy to work therefore the state pay their entry into the grounds. For this reason, free admission was because “we blady (bloody) pay for them” he ranted and despite not working they still managed to fill two grounds every week,” Anfield, home of Liverpool FC and Goodison Park home of Everton FC. Alf never actually worked himself but hated everybody else who, wanted to work but were denied this right by the capitalist system, and particularly the Conservative Party, though this political language was above Alf’s comprehension. This, according to Alf in his usual loud mouthed ranting way, put London clubs or, more accurately West Ham, at a disadvantage because they could not fill their ground because their fans “had to pay to get in and they worked.” These were the reasons West ham had never won the European Cup. This scene was shown in the show’s sequel, In Sickness and in Wealth, equally as funny, and was a response to the “Scouse Gits” European Cup successes.

So, what would Alf Garnett’s attitude be today towards the, in my view, ruinous VAR. imagine if the ref had allowed a goal to West Ham only to be overruled by VAR, it would have resulted in him going into a rage and mother of all rants. On this issue, that of VAR I would agree with Alf who, it would be imagined, would oppose VAR particularly if it was detrimental to West Ham United. VAR is of no use whatsoever and is killing football as a game. Maybe me and countless others are traditionalists but the same set of rules served the game well for over a century until the money men started fucking around to suit various TV channels. Some fans, a minority I have found, actually agree with this vandalism of the once great game but the majority hate it. There must be millions of modern-day Alf Garnett’s watching football infuriated by VAR. It is not the game I grew up with and I, not dissimilar to Alf in this respect, have often threatened to throw the tele through the fucking widow after VAR intervention.

 VAR, it could be imagined would be another reason why West ham had never won the European Cup in the mind of Alf Garnett. On the other hand, of course, in the case of the bigoted Alf, VAR could be an OK addition to the game providing every decision went in West Hams favour. For me, even when a referee’s decision is overruled in favour of my team, Man Utd, by VAR I am not happy. How can players play to the referee’s whistle, as we were always told to play, if that decision is going to be overruled? Is this the beginning of the end for the man in the middle? In all probability yes it may well be. In years to come the referee will be a thing of the past as all decisions will be made by some form of automated referee. I’m sure had VAR being around in the day of Alf Garnett writer Johnny Speight would have had a field day with the script.

Alf Garnett blamed everything and everybody, who did not support West Ham United, for the world’s problems. That is everybody bar himself of course, he was never, ever wrong. His task on earth, as he saw things was “to educate” people less intelligent than himself who, it appeared according to him, was just about everybody. Unemployment on Merseyside was the reason West Ham had no European football success, the Labour Party and particularly “yer darling Arold” (Harold Wilson leader of the Labour Party) were to blame for the country’s economic woes. When his socialist son in law asked sarcastically about Ted Heath (Heath was leader of the Conservative Party) buying a Yacht, Morning Cloud Alf replied, “he only bought that so he could win the Admirals Cup for England,” - it was nothing to do with pleasure, it was for the country!

In real life actor Warren Mitchel who played the cantankerous Alf Garnett was the absolute opposite of the sitcom character. For a kick off Mitchel was a lifelong socialist often seen selling socialist papers on the streets, the antithesis of Alf Garnett. He was also of Jewish extraction and supported Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, the team Alf often abused due to their Jewish support. He played the part brilliantly and, in my view, was hilariously funny. Many people do not share the opinion that by highlighting the stupidity of the policies held by Alf Garnett and the likes of, it showed up racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and homophobia for what they were, misnomers to draw working-class people’s attention away from their real problems. While they are, like Alf who lived in a run-down terrace house in Wapping, East London, blaming minorities for their problems they are not attacking the capitalist mode of production or the establishment for their ills, unemployment and poverty. This suits the establishment fine, keep the masses in ignorance and fear. There are those, usually on the so-called liberal left who think that characters like Garnett fuel racism, I do not agree, it shows it for the sickness it is. 

There was one occasion reportedly, when Warren Mitchel was approached by the ignorant members of the fascist National Front who congratulated him on getting things right as Alf Garnett. Mitchel then replied, “if it were not for morons like you, I would not have to do it.” Well said Warren. 

Warren Mitchel, lifelong socialist and Humanist, died in November 2015 Hampstead, London England.

Caoimhin O’Muraile
Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Alf Garnett And VAR

Peter Anderson ⚽ You can't help but think that bringing in VAR was the opening of a Pandora's Box for football. 

The first two seasons were a disaster by and large, but last season we seemed to see some semblance of balance brought to the game. This season it feels like we have taken a retrograde step. 

Last weekend saw some incredible decisions that have brought VAR under the spotlight again. The Liverpool - Everton game was a case in point. Virgil van Dijk's foul on Onana was only given a yellow card when it clearly should have been a red. The tackle was high, late and straight legged, a red all day long. The ref gave a yellow, but VAR did not request a second look. Why not? Is that not what it is for?

The second incident was the disallowed Conor Coady goal. After he scored the linesman did not raise his flag so the crowd went wild, thinking it was a goal. VAR took an age to make its call and, in the end, called offside, no goal. Judging by the lines applied by VAR it looked like the correct call. Later these lines were called into question by different supporters on Twitter. Whatever the truth, it has taken away the joy of the goal in general when watching live footy. Every time your team scores a goal, you know that the build-up will be forensically examined for a foul, so you hesitate from celebrating.

The bigger problem with this is that some fouls in the build-up are ignored and some aren't. Earlier this season Spurs scored against Chelsea at the death to secure a 2-2 draw. The goal came after a series of two corners. In the first corner Romero dragged Cucharella to the ground by the hair. The ref missed it and awarded another corner from which Kane scored. Romero's foul was clear and obvious, but the ref missed it and VAR cannot intervene, presumably because the corners were different phases. While Chelsea lost two points from that decision, they gained two last weekend, after Cornet's equaliser for West Ham was chalked off due to VAR. Mendy, the Chelsea goalie, made a save and pushed the ball out to Cornet, Bowen touched Mendy as he fell and Mendy played dead, Cornet scored past the prostrate Mendy. VAR then called the ref to the screen and, after reviewing it, annulled the goal. The touch from Bowen was not a foul and Mendy exaggerated the effect, but amazingly VAR wanted the ref to review it. The ref's decision was correct and any possible mistake was not "clear and obvious", but the ref did not stand over his initial decision. 2 points to Chelsea that they didn't deserve.

Even more bizarre was the decision last weekend in the Toon-Palace game when Palace defender Mitchell scored an o.g. The Toon Army went wild only for VAR to chalk off the goal for a Willock foul on the Palace goalie. When watching the VAR review, you can clearly see that it was Mitchell who pushed Willock into his own keeper! Everyone could see it except for the VAR ref. That also cost the Toon 2 valuable points.

So, where do we go from here? The joy of the goal has been diminished and I don't see a possible way back, unless VAR gets ditched. Why some fouls are reviewed retrospectively and some aren't is a flaw that must be fixed, but how? Would football be better off ditching VAR? It was brought in because of the many injustices which befall mostly smaller teams, and which can be devastating emotionally and financially. It works to a satisfactory standard in rugby, surely football can do the same? The pundits on Sky Sports argued that VAR is fine, it's just the protocols and the refs doing the reviews that are the problem. They called for more honesty and accountability. Whatever the answer, it needs sorted pronto.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

VAR Redux

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