Sport: What is VAR?

Archie and Kewin look at people’s opinions on the use of VAR in Football.

What is VAR? How does it work?

Video Assistant Referee (VAR) operates on a three-step process of incident, review/advice, decision, and across the four jurisdictions of football deemed ‘game changing.’

VAR is only to be used “to correct clear errors and for missed serious incidents” in those “match-changing” situations.

VAR was first used in English football in the Brighton-Crystal FA Cup third-round tie on 8th of January.

We spoke to Penrice’s P.E teachers about what they thought about the VAR.

Kewin: Have you got an opinion on the VAR?

Miss Paciusczko: I believe it’s useful, but it does take time. Technology is increasing through the years.

Kewin: Do you think VAR is a good use in football?

Miss Paciusczko:  I think it’s good because without the VAR, the referee will miss quite a lot of things, but with the VAR it’s more accurate and the referee won’t miss things.

We spoke to Mr Knipe.

Kewin: What are the pros and cons of VAR?

Mr Knipe: It’s a good addition to the game, but a bad thing about it is the crowd can’t see it so I think it would be better if that was to happen. Overall it’s good because it makes a correct decision.

We also spoke to students to get their opinion

Kewin: What do you think about VAR?

Rodrigo: I think it’s a good addition to football, it can make the game longer, but it’s not a waste of time. It’s useful because if referees don’t see it, then they can speak to the people controlling the VAR, and find out what should happen.  The VAR makes the game fair, but you can lose games because of it.

George: I like how you can find out if it’s offside or not, but I doesn’t like how it wastes time.