Newcastle United have been on the receiving end of some truly bizarre refereeing decisions this season, often bafflingly backed up by VAR too.
We’re by no means the only club that has been negatively affected by the horrendous levels of officiating, but given our focus on NUFC, it’s our incidents that stick in the mind.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of just how much VAR has ruined the game came in Newcastle’s win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup. A game in which VAR wasn’t even being used.
VAR wasn’t in use, and it still managed to ruin the game. That’s because top-level officials have become so reliant on having VAR to bail them out of bad decisions, they’d rather not make the bad call in the first place and just have VAR pull the game back after the fact. There was the missed red card for Lucas Digne after almost snapping Jacob Murphy in half, and then the infamous handball inside the box that was given as a free-kick.
That’s just one example of how referees now rely too much on VAR, but then, when it is in use, all it seems to do is slow down the game and take the joy out of the sport.
It’s hardly worth celebrating goals any more because you have to wait five minutes before it’s checked and cleared. VAR will go into forensic detail over offsides and other incidents. Why there isn’t a time limit on decisions, we’ll never know. If it’s not obvious, then let the on-field decision stand.
The Football Supporters Association surveyed almost 8,000 fans on VAR, as relayed by Henry Winter on X, and the results are overwhelmingly against its use.
We definitely recommend viewing Winter’s post, but here are a few takeaways from the survey:
92% of fans surveyed “agreed” that “VAR has removed the spontaneous joy of goal celebrations” (82% of them “strongly agreed”).
85% of match-going fans “strongly disagreed” that “VAR decisions are generally resolved in a reasonable amount of time”. Echoed by 83% of those watching on TV.
Only 18% agreed that “VAR has improved the overall accuracy of refereeing decisions”.
What’s shocking, though, is the response from the Premier League and PGMOL, which Winter posted in a follow-up tweet.
“Premier League defends its use of VAR, says technology “less intrusive” in PL than in other European leagues, including UCL. Argues that its research “indicates fans are largely in favour of keeping VAR, but improving the way it is used”.”
Absolutely blind to the truth.
We get that a lot of money has been invested into VAR, and they aren’t likely to scrap it because fans don’t like it, so they’re making excuses for it, but to be so ignorant is actually insulting.
What’s worse, though, is that VAR will be given even more power to intervene next season, with second yellow cards and corners now falling under its purview. The game’s gone.