Here we go. Week one and already VAR is an abject failure in the Premier League. Time to ditch this rubbish system!!


Before we get into this please know that I am a huge Manchester United fan. I simply hate VAR more than I love United!!

Whomever decided using technology to try and decipher subjective laws, needs to tarred and feathered and left in the village square for people to chuck fucking rocks at him. Last night's disaster from the VAR team, despite very clear evidence of a foul by Andre Onana, is proof, in week one of the Premier League's new season, that we should prepare for some very heated chats around the watercooler this season. This is about as clear a penalty for this type of infringement as you will get. I don't know whether the VAR official fell asleep because the game was almost over, or if he had a bird in the booth taking his concentration elsewhere, or if he simply missed his latest visit to SpecSavers, but he royally fucked this one up!!

And it isn't unique to football/soccer!! The rugby system is an unmitigated fuckup too. The last three weeks have seen, what would appear to be simple, clear video evidence, completely misinterpreted by the twat in the bunker.  Field Hockey is going through a crisis where the review takes longer than the game itself, and then has "no advice possible" as the stock in trade from Hellen Keller in the TV booth. Cricket catches divide the entire world, except for India where fans vote one of two ways. For India or against the opposition. Its now even pervading that gentle sport of international swimming with cameras and dickhead Officials, who have never gotten wetter than the shower, disqualifying world class swimmers from events for turn infringements that again divide the entire swimming world. 

For me, and most real fans I speak to, get rid of the TV for everything that requires a subjective view of anything. It worked fine for hundreds of years trusting people's eyes at the venue. Line decisions like run-outs in cricket, fine. But did Katy Ledecky turn during the stroke or after it, means fuckall to anyone, except the swimmer herself.

What is sorely needed is these little despots of officialdom, both on and off the sporting area, to be compelled to attend the press conferences, like the athletes and management are, and answer for their decisions to the rabid press. These refs, umpires, tech officials are currently above scrutiny from all but their own little cabals, and we all know how they always vote in these situation.

We don't turn on the TV to watch officials trying to be the showstopper. We tune in to watch athletes perform. They need to know their place and accept their pay cheque for the job they do. Best compliment I ever received after umpiring a hockey match, "oh, were you blowing? Well done, I never even noticed you out there" 




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