VAR is finally set to see some sensible changes
Last season was plagued by a slew of nonsensical marginal decisions, the joke being players were ruled offside by a toenail, a shoelace, a strand of hair. To be honest, we’ve never been totally happy with VAR since it was introduced and it seems each year it runs into a new problem or finds new ways to piss us off.
However, as first reported by The Times, it is thought that the Premier League are set to use thicker lines when it comes to consulting VAR for offside calls. There will no doubt still be a margin for error but this will certainly minimise the number of ridiculous calls we saw this season.
The decision was reportedly made at the Premier League shareholders meeting yesterday, where clubs and referees discussed the notion of implementing this change after having seen it already put into place over in the Netherlands.
Referee chief Mike Riley also presented the results of a survey sent to Premier League managers, captains and directors of football, asking for feedback on VAR. The overall aim is to achieve more consistency and as well as citing key figures from clubs, it is also believed that this season’s system and the time it takes to make a decision was quicker on average.
It still may not have been reduced to the clear and obvious motto that it was first packaged with but it’s a step forward.
