VAR Sparks Controversy over the Role of Technology in Sports

The World Cup Trophy Photo: Daniel Robinson / Flickr

This year's world cup has seen the introduction of the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) to help officiate games, leading to a series of controversies and discourse around the role of technology in sports.

VAR consists of a team of three people that monitor various video angles and have the power to overturn calls on the field. In particular, they adjudicate decisions that greatly influence the outcome of the game, such as goals or red cards.

So far, VAR has caused a record number of overturned goals in this year's World Cup. Ten goals have been disallowed, whereas only six decisions have led to goals that would have otherwise been disallowed. Mostly these decisions have been due to offsides calls that were extremely close to being onside. For example, in the Belgium vs Croatia game, there was a call that was ruled offside but by such a small margin that fans have complained the decision was the “worst ever.”

The consequences of some of the decisions made by VAR have changed the tournament. In particular, VAR overruled a referee's decision to call off a goal in the game between Japan and Spain. This led to Japan upsetting Spain in a 2-1 nail-biter. Without this goal, football powerhouse Germany would have been able to advance out of the group stage.

Similar controversies have led to allegations of corruption, but little evidence suggests these claims have any merit. The tournament's first game was subject to corruption allegations after an Ecuador player was ruled offside by a nearly invisible margin without VAR. The many controversies surrounding the World Cup only added fuel to these allegations, as some fans thought that Qatar had influenced referees to treat their team more kindly.

Ivan Perisic handles the ball in the penalty area against France, prompting a VAR decision that will give France a penalty Photo: Ben Sutherland / Flickr

Broadly, the role of VAR has sparked discussion about the role of technology in sports. On the one hand, some believe that human judgment is meant to be part of the sport, so errors in judgment are a part of the game that should not be removed. Similarly, fans dislike the extra time to make decisions after a goal is scored. This has led to a large contingent of fans that would like to see VAR removed from the sport. In fact, only 26% of Premier League fans support using VAR.

Alternatively, others greatly appreciate the change. VAR has primarily decreased the amount of missed calls that had previously plagued officials. The motivation for the shift to technologically empowered referees came after social media increased the amount of scrutiny on referees. Social media enabled fans to directly observe mistakes from referees more and voice their complaints, increasing pressure on referees to get calls right. The ability to share replays where referees made mistakes rapidly fueled toxicity and personal threats against referees. For example, there have long been complaints and aggression towards umpire Angel Hernandez in the MLB.

Ultimately, fans' perspective on VAR largely depends on whether or not the decisions favor their teams. Likewise, as long as there is officiating in sports, fans will blame the officials for their team’s losses.