{"id":32534,"date":"2020-01-26T19:50:23","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/malaysia\/?p=32534"},"modified":"2020-01-26T19:31:49","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:31:49","slug":"whats-the-deal-with-var","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/malaysia\/2020\/01\/26\/whats-the-deal-with-var\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the Deal with VAR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To say that the video assistant referee (VAR) has not been well-received would be an understatement.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Despite the use of VARs having been written into Law in 2018, there have been some glaring hiccups in the rollout of what many fans are saying will irreversibly change the nature of the game we love. So here\u2019s the Football Tribe take on the technological revolution that is the VAR.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robots are taking all our jobs and making football less awesome<\/b><\/p>\n

The automation of any field is almost never welcomed, and in football, the feedback has been largely negative. It seems as though no one but the head honchos at the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and FIFA have any kind words for the VAR.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Crystal Palace fans making their feelings about the VAR known during a Premier League match against Arsenal on 11th January 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fans, club staff, and the players themselves, everyone seems to hate it. Even referees, who have been largely silent on the matter, must admit that while VAR at least shares some of the blame for bad calls on the pitch, it also takes some of the art out of the distinguished role that is the traditional football arbiter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The robots are <\/b>not<\/i><\/b> taking all the refereeing jobs<\/b><\/p>\n

Contrary to popular belief, the VAR is not some faceless robot that, through the machinations of its human flunkies at FIFA, has become the unseen overlord of football referees. Think less Skynet and more ESPN on steroids.<\/span><\/p>\n

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That was an incorrect decision. Prepare to be recycled into Soylent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The implementation of VAR at any tournament looks more like an upgrade to the broadcast and video production aspects of professional football than Gianni Infantino handing Megatron the keys to FIFA\u2019s offices in Z\u00fcrich.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Frieden durch Tyrannei!” (Peace through tyranny!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mundane reality<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite all the hype, artificial intelligence is a very long way off from running our lives, let alone our football matches. Remember IBM\u2019s Watson? Its arrival was heralded as the beginning of a new age in the medical profession, but then it started giving lethal treatment advice. A slew of big and expensive chatbot projects went the same way after their various shortcomings became obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

The boring truth is that when VAR rolls out at a tournament, it entails an array of ultra-high-definition and slow-motion cameras, some hefty video processing hardware, and seated in the video operations room (VOR), a team of real-life humans with the necessary know-how to sequence video from different angles and <\/span>assist <\/span><\/i>referees on the pitch in making or checking decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The video assistant referee (VAR) and his three assistant video assistant referees (AVAR1, AVAR2, and AVAR3)in the Var Room during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hidden from public view as it is, FIFA correctly predicted that the VAR might appear nefarious to ordinary fans.<\/b><\/p>\n

To head off concerns of automation, FIFA and suppliers of VAR systems (such as EVS) included a visible component of the VAR in the Referee Review Area (RRA), where referees can be seen consulting instant replays of various angles at a VAR terminal\u2014all in full view of fans (and without direction from their robot overlords).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Referee Joel Aguilar reviewing VAR footage (and acknowledging directions from his robot overlords) before awarding Sweden a penalty during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Getty Images \/ Adam Pretty – FIFA \/ Contributor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VAR\u2019s creators knew it would be a touchy subject<\/b><\/p>\n

Conceived by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) after their successes with goal-line technology, the VAR was intended as a solution to minimize controversial decisions being made on the pitch. It was merely a dedicated effort to bring some semblance of reliability and uniformity to the adjudication of football matches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Resistance to the idea remained until the exit of the Luddite Sepp Blatter made room for the more progressive Gianni Infantino. Then FIFA signed off on the VAR\u2014declaring that it should remain a factor of \u201cminimum interference and maximum benefit\u201d and codifying into Law its use in deliberations around what they termed “clear and obvious errors”.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of VAR\u2019s implementation, the game has maybe changed\u2014but only a little bit.<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite all that intention and effort applied to foolproofing the decision-making process of referees, the involvement of VAR in football matches is still loosely implemented\u2014and still not appreciated by fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Referees remain free to apply their own discretion when deciding whether to consult or ignore VAR recommendations. The VAR team in the VOR could be consulted at any time through the referee\u2019s headphones and the referee could personally get a look at instant replays through the pitch-side RRA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But because the review process is still mostly manual, any time there\u2019s a call by the referee to consult the VAR, the ball comes out of play and there\u2019s a discernible break in the mood and pace of the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Whenever you see the ref drawing a screen in the air, you know there\u2019s going to be a minute (or three) of absolutely nothing happening.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that\u2019s if everything works as expected.<\/b><\/p>\n

As with most forms of change, there have been some growing pains. In January 2020, a Premier League match between Watford and Tottenham lost a minute and a half of play to <\/span>technical difficulties<\/span><\/a> with the VAR. Even though the issue of a headset with a flat battery would likely have occurred even prior to VAR\u2019s arrival, the resulting stoppage of play would not have been as likely before.<\/span><\/p>\n