Video assistant referees (VARs) should be removed from the Premier League.
That’s the view of former Aston Villa and Liverpool attacker Stan Collymore, who believes technology is doing more harm than good.
Since its introduction in the Premier League during the 2019-20 season, VAR has divided fans. The technology, which involves various officials operating and reviewing in-game incidents and communicating with the referee on the field, has been continually criticized after a series of inconsistent and questionable decisions.
Although the rules of football are black and white, it is the VAR’s interpretation of those rules that has caused controversy. Still depending on human input, the bugs are close to the same level they were before they were introduced, and while officials have had several seasons to get used to the processes, last weekend’s fixture list saw two major bugs occur.
In the matches between Arsenal vs Brentford and Crystal Palace vs Brighton, VAR officials failed to assess the correct phase of play, resulting in two goals that otherwise should not have been scored.
Reacting to the latest VAR talking points, Collymore, who spoke in an exclusive interview, said: “What a disastrous weekend for VAR.
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“Before VAR was introduced, refereeing decisions were around 98 per cent correct and now with VAR that number is up around half a per cent, so the improvement is minimal.
“Now we have a situation where referees have their natural abilities weakened because they know they can always rely on VAR and you have a bunch of other referees sitting miles away in Stockley Park, who are also human beings, running the technology. to help other human beings, so unless VAR is 100% guaranteed to work on its own and make all decisions at all times, there is no point in having it.
“It’s a system that was supposed to come in to make more of the right decisions, but has only done so marginally. What you are doing is taking the spontaneity out of the game and the constant nitpicking is creating more discussion than the game itself. There are some cases where we as fans are required to review offside offenses that we can barely see with the naked eye.
“It’s ridiculous and it’s making a mockery of the biggest sport in the world. In my opinion, the VAR experiment is over. It hasn’t worked and it doesn’t seem like it will ever work, so let’s get rid of it and go back to how it used to be.”
Offering a possible solution for how English football can improve the standard of refereeing without needing to rely on VAR, Collymore added: “The FA and Premier League should consider a formal program for released youth players so if They want they can go into refereeing and they don’t lose their career after being rejected as players. We could give them the best training and they would already have experience in the game. That way, we could end up producing a generation of top referees that we can feel like proud.
“Maybe then we’ll get the best of both worlds by improving the percentage of correct decisions and without the need for VAR. What are you saying?”
Do you agree with Collymore? – Should VAR be removed from the English Premier League? – Let us know in the comments.
