Scrapping VAR would be a backward step
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ solo Premier League rebellion against the forces of VAR came without warning, and it remains to be seen whether it will attract the 13 other clubs required to form a super-majority and force change.
There is no great love among the clubs for VAR, the introduction of technology into football’s laws that was launched in the Premier League in 2019.
Equally, most of them realise that simply to ditch it now would be absurd. Too much has been invested in refining a system that − if removed overnight − would simply put them back where they were previously.
The problem has never been with referees’ mistakes − throughout the history of football, referees have always made mistakes.
Rather, the issue at play is that the all-encompassing coverage of television, with its super slow-motion HD replaying every contentious incident, means that all those mistakes can be watched in seconds by a global audience in pinsharp detail. Pre-VAR, the only man not privy to them was the referee.
It would be the same in a post-VAR world. The games would still be re-refereed on television − but by pundits with no recourse to correct mistakes.
There is huge appetite among clubs to improve VAR after another season that has brought its share of catastrophe, although as things stand there is nothing like the quorum of fellow 13 travellers Wolves would need to get rid of it.
Private
These are discussions that clubs like to have in private, although on this occasion many were only informed as the story broke.
There is a general move towards outward dissent now, as per Nottingham Forest’s infamous half-time post on X this season. While manager’s rants are usually tolerated, disagreements between owners and executives are generally kept behind closed doors.
The 20 clubs, naturally conservative, recognise that much of what they hold most dear − the multi-billion pound rights deals − are damaged when they criticise from the outside.
There will also be a resentment among Wolves’ peers at the possibility of being seen to oppose a measure that has gathered support while being considered unworkable in reality.
It is by no means certain that Wolves’ proposal will even make it to a vote.
Many issues on the agenda for Premier League meetings never make it that far if the opposition to them in preliminary discussions is simply overwhelming.
There are already those who point out that this has been something of a swift conversion by Wolves. One month ago, they were part of an unanimous vote to add more technology next season − the approval of semi-automated offside.
There is no doubt that Wolves, and their supporters in particular have an antipathy for VAR unmatched elsewhere in the league.
When VAR intervened on Saturday to rule Matheus Cunha’s second-half goal against Crystal Palace was legitimate, the Wolves fans broke into their customary chant of “F*** V-A-R”.
Proving the old notion that all foreign policy is, in essence, domestic policy. Wolves’ attack on VAR will certainly play well with their fanbase.
Where it will lead is not quite so clear.
Five years in and VAR has not delivered the solution to all football’s recriminations that was promised upon its introduction.
The imperfections of VAR were only too clear in a protocol that was consistently rewritten to deal with the many unforeseen consequences of such a huge change.
The high bar of “clear and obvious” meant that VAR sought not to correct every decision, just those that reached a certain threshold of inaccuracy. No one truly considered what the matchgoing experience of VAR might be like.
Yet the reasons for VAR’s introduction remain as pertinent today as they were five years ago.
The world consumes football differently now, with a technological sophistication that means they see the action in a level of detail never previously possible.
It cannot be the case that the man tasked with controlling the game has less information about the action than the casual viewer sitting on a bar stool.
Wayne Rooney, one of the greats of the era, responded to Wolves’ proposal on Wednesday night with support.
As a Sky Sports pundit he said that he would rather scrap VAR, accept the quantum of human error from referees and “understand they will make mistakes”.
Except the VAR experiment has shown that mistakes are never accepted. Clubs and fans view the world through the lens of the injustices – real or imagined. Most are not interested in accepting mistakes.
VAR was one way football convinced itself that it could eliminate human error, and now having failed to do that, at least one club simply wants to eliminate it. But – as many clubs seemed to be saying − that would only put them back five years ago. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd, 2024)