VAR AND THE PARADIGM SHIFT IN FOOTBALL

By Tanimu Umar
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insisted Video Asistant Refereee does produce "fair football" after Citeh's Champions League quarter-final exit on away goals to Tottenham Hotspur after a pulsating tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.

Guardiola and the entire home technical bench vigorous jubilation ended in angst after VAR correctly indicated Kun Aguero was yards offside in the build-up to the "goal" that will have qualified The Citizens to the semi-finals and keeping alive the exaggerated dream of a quadruple. 

Before that last minute drama, Tottenham's 3rd goal scored by Fernando Llorente was a subject of controversy, but VAR clearly adjudged the ball came off his groin. VAR can infuriate and frustrate, as it did Guardiola last night, but it's emergence has brought paradigm shift in football. 

Before the advent of VAR and Goal Line Technology, numerous refereeing errors, which cannot be detected without video replays, have affected several teams. Controversies raged right from the 1966 World Cup final when Geoff Hurst's shot came off the cross bar and didn't cross the goal line, but the goal was awarded for England to go on and defeat West Germany. Pass forward 2010, Germany got their "revenge" when Frank Lampard saw his well-taken goal disallowed after the ball bounced off the bar and clearly crossed the goal line. Those decisions would have reversed if there was Goal Line Technology in place. 

The role of the VAR is to:
1. Assist the referee to determine whether there was an infringement in the build up to a goal.

2. Ensure that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with the award or non-award of a penalty kick.

3. Ensure that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with sending off or not sending off a player.

4. When the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player, or is unsure which player should be sanctioned, the VAR will inform the referee so that the correct player can be disciplined.

If VAR has been in use several outrightly flawed decisions would have been averted. One tangible example will come from the 2004  Champions League round of 16 match in which Porto defeated Manchester United after Paul Scholes' goal was wrongly disallowed for offside, Porto went on to win the trophy that season, beating Monaco in the final. The referee, after seeing the replays at the end of the match, officially apologised to United for disallowing that goal. He won't have to apologise if there was VAR in place. Similar examples are replete. 

It is indisputable that VAR brings transparency and quality and it provides a positive outcome for teams who decide to attack and take risks. With VAR defenders are learning other ways of defending, as we have seen in the 2018 World Cup, holding of shirts and rash tackles are being well monitored and punished. 

Football will come more to terms with VAR when the technology come into effect in the English Premier League, the English referees, so prone to avoidable errors, will be able to either redeem themselves or display their vulnerability.