Should the Premier League scrap VAR after Wolves' request?
The 2023/24 Premier League season was undoubtedly one of the most entertaining in the competition’s history.
Several high-scoring games and upsets coloured a truly remarkable season, during which Manchester City became the first English team to win the domestic league title consecutively for four years.
But unlike in some previous seasons, the Cityzens didn't just storm to the title, leaving everyone else in the dust.
They had to battle hard for their title, wrestling Arsenal and Liverpool to the last week of the season before prevailing by two points.
Ultimately, the just-concluded Premier League season will be remembered as one of the most entertaining, with a record 1,246 goals scored, and as one of the most competitive, as nine points separated the top three teams.
But despite how entertaining and competitive the season was, it was not without controversy.
Chief among the controversies was Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology.
In a season of many talking points, the VAR technology was one of the major headlines of the 2023/24 Premier League season and a big player in where the title ended this season.
From the first day of the season until the last day, one or two incidents always seemed to bring VAR to the limelight each week.
VAR Mistakes
Originally, VAR was adopted to eliminate human errors from football games. The idea was that because referees were human and infallible, they needed a non-human technology that would assist them in eliminating the bad elements of their officiating that persist due to their humanity.
However, rather than solving the problem, VAR seems to have exacerbated it, at least in the Premier League, where we witnessed several mistakes made by those who run the technology.
According to the Premier League’s KMI panel, 31 VAR-related mistakes occurred throughout the 2023/24 season.
The KMI (Key Match Incidents) panel is an independent group of experienced players and coaches that reviews games in the Premier League.
The group also has representation from the PGMOL, the board responsible for professional match officials across English football.
Among the 31 recognised VAR mistakes this season, the most contentious is Wolves failing to get a penalty despite Andre Onana wiping out striker Sasa Kalajdzic in their first game of the season, a decision that Wolves’ boss Gary O'Neil later admitted he received an apology for from the PGMOL.
Other high-profile incidents included Liverpool's legitimate goal against Tottenham being wrongly chalked off as offside, two red cards in the fixture between Newcastle and Arsenal in November, and Nottingham Forest being denied stone-wall penalties in consecutive games against Newcastle and West Ham.
Although these errors abound, they are not the fault of the technology but of those operating it. So, despite how good and helpful VAR is, human errors abound. Thankfully, the Premier League and the KMI have identified the men behind the errors, with some referees namechecked for making several high-profile errors during the season.
At the end of the season, the bulk of the 31 VAR mistakes were made against Liverpool (4), Nottingham Forest (4), Brighton (4), Wolves (3), and Burnley (3).
Wolves call to Scrap VAR
The fallout from these errors and lack of professionalism from Premier League referees and match officials led Wolves to submit a proposal to scrap the technology at the next AGM meeting in June.
Premier League clubs will vote on the matter in June, with 14 clubs needed to vote in favour of scrapping VAR for the resolution to be passed.
Although it appears that Wolves’ wishes won’t be granted, as several clubs and even fans have indicated their desire to keep the technology, it is easy to see why several people are dissatisfied with it.
But who is right? Should VAR be kept or scrapped?
We consider the VAR’s bad and good and offer a verdict on the technology’s use in this article.
The Bad
It is safe to say that VAR can be annoying, as Jurgen Klopp, Wolves, and Nottingham Forest have severally made clear.
VAR has so much drama, and Premier League side Wolves have carefully itemised its arguments.
According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Wanderers will make ten key arguments in favour of scrapping VAR at the Premier League's AGM on June 6.
Their arguments against VAR include;
- Overreach of VAR's original purpose
- Impact on celebrations and atmosphere
- Frustration and confusion in stadiums
- Hostile and negative atmosphere inside stadiums
- Damaging the authority of officials
- Continued errors despite VAR
- Incompatibility with the Premier League's pace
- Extended added time and disruption
- VAR discourse overshadowing matches
- Erosion of trust and reputation
Wolves’ arguments are solid, and it is easy to agree with them that the debate around VAR has constantly overshadowed matches, invariably attracting negative press to the league’s image.
Although the Premier League remains arguably the most entertaining league in the world, making Premier League tickets one of the most valuable assets, the poor usage of VAR technology could ruin its reputation.
The endless human mistakes beg the question, what’s the point of having VAR in the first place?
What is the point of having a machine that couldn’t determine that Luis Diaz was onside against Tottenham or that João Palhinha should have been sent off in the 19th minute for an elbow on Pascal Groß in Fulham’s game against Brighton in October?
The time used to determine simple offside calls also frustrates, slowing the game and killing the game’s atmosphere.
There are many valid reasons to throw VAR away, but are they enough?
The Good
Despite the several ills of VAR, there is no denying that the technology has several good sides.
Though we may be hurting and emotionally charged by the few VAR fails, its usefulness cannot be overemphasised.
For starters, VAR encourages greater discipline from players, with things like diving and violent conduct easily spotted in-game and punished. Though players still try to con the referees by easily going to ground, the dives these days are less blatant and are nothing compared to before.
If nothing, if a player goes to ground nowadays, we can at least confirm there is contact. The subjective part will be in determining if the contact was minimal or enough to warrant going to the ground. Should it be determined that there was no contact, the player is booked, and if any penalty is awarded, it is rescinded.
That is a big win for football and has made players think twice before going to the ground.
Also, violent conduct is now more easily checked, and adequate punishment is meted out in the game. It is good to remember that before VAR became mainstream in the Premier League five years ago, there were many instances where players lashed out at fellow players without being punished during the game because there was no extra eye from Stockley Park.
For example, if VAR had been present in April 2013, Luis Suarez’s bite on Branislav Ivanovic would have been spotted, and he would have been handed a direct red card during the game.
But the Uruguayan went unscathed before scoring a late equaliser for Liverpool in that game.
Also, though still not 100% perfect, VAR has also helped match officials make better offside calls. Before 2019, there were several games where match officials missed clear offsides. However, the frequency of such occurrences is lower, though not completely eliminated.
Also, thanks to VAR we now see referees rescind red and yellow cards and rightly chalk off goals scored before a foul, something that did not happen before.
In all, VAR’s original purpose of reducing clear and obvious errors stands.
The Verdict
Perhaps the challenge with VAR is that it promised too much when it was yet to be announced. This was not the fault of the Premier League, though; these promises were driven by expectations.
Before VAR, football was rife with contentious decisions, so the feeling was that the technology would completely eliminate all of those contentions to the nth degree. While the match officials or inventors of VAR never promised that it would solve all football problems, fans felt it would.
But unfortunately, that is not the case.
The fact remains that aside from goal-line decisions and offsides, the vast majority of refereeing decisions are subjective.
They are a matter of personal opinion. So, no matter what technology or rule change is adopted, everyone will not be happy with the referee's decision.
So, it is safe to look on the brighter side and celebrate VAR’s little wins so far.
For example, in February, the Premier League announced that 96 per cent of refereeing decisions had been correct at that stage of this season, compared to just 82 per cent of correct refereeing decisions before the technology was adopted.
Clearly, 96% is better than 82%. So, rather than trash the 14% progress we have made by trashing VAR, the Premier League and its officiating body should work on narrowing the error gap by tightening the loose ends in officiating.
This would involve retraining referees, evaluating standards, and perhaps delisting officials who perpetually make these errors.
Declustering the rulebook will also improve VAR’s use in the Premier League, hasten decision-making, and give referees more control.
The Premier League has promised to tackle these issues. Last February, the league insisted that it is striving for greater accuracy in decision-making, shorter delays in delivering those decisions, and more transparency to improve the supporter experience.
That said, the PL is visibly working hand-in-hand with IFAB (International Football Association Board), the body that determines the rules of association football, to tighten the technology's loose ends and make it more adaptable to the league.
