VAR or Video Assistant Referee is a term in football we hear all of the time now in football, especially when it comes to the Premier League.
But there have been many instances of VAR making errors that sparks debate amongst footballing fans as to whether or not it should be scrapped given that the aim of VAR was to improve the standard of officiating.
The 24/25 season has shown us errors that are made by referees proving why VAR can be a useful asset to the game we all know and love.
The most recent one that comes to mind is when Charlie Kelman scored for Leyton Orient in the first leg of the League One play-off semi final, in what can only be described as a blatant offside position – a goal which shouldn’t have stood but did, changing the course of the game.
Now we all make mistakes – it is human nature – but the amount of errors we see across the EFL Championship, League One and League Two begs the question – Should the EFL have VAR?
It’s important to assess what VAR actually does to answer this complicated question. Well, according to the Premier League, VAR was introduced in the top flight of English football to help referees because of mistakes they were making. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which oversees the Laws of the Game, approved trials and then the use of VAR in football.
Since the introduction of VAR in England in the 2019/20 season, there has been countless errors in which fans have had to accept, costing their teams – which was the whole reason for bringing it in in the first place, to reduce these mistakes.
VAR is only used for “clear and obvious errors” or “serious missed incidents” in four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
But the amount of time it takes VAR to make these decisions takes away the joy of certain aspects of the game.
For example, celebrating a goal with fans around you, knowing you will need to wait a minute or two to find out if it stands.
Granted, elements of VAR have improved, and with the recent introduction of semi-automated offides, those decisions are resolved a lot quicker allowing the match to have a flow to it.
But for many people, there are still major question marks over how effective VAR would be to EFL officiating and whether or not it would take the joy out of football.
It’s hard to dictate a straight yes or no answer to a question like this, but VAR when used efficiently and correctly can be a valuable asset to the sport to allow the correct outcomes.
What do you believe should happen?
Should we see VAR in the EFL?
