2020 - The year that keeps on giving! This week, Rob and I could not record our weekly podcast due to a power outage as a result of Connecticut's brief encounter with Hurricane Isaias. However, we'll be back in a couple of weeks to round-off the season. In the meantime, enjoy my (John's) thoughts on VAR. Feel free to comment with your opinions on the matter! We'd love to hear from you!
Football! Otherwise known as “The Beautiful Game”. So what makes it beautiful? Well, like most things associated with the sport, people will have different opinions about that. Could it be the unbridled feeling of euphoria you experience when your team scores? The enjoyment you get when your team puts in a glorious passing display for 90 minutes? Knowing that despite being an underdog against a “big team”, you still have a chance? Or knowing that once you fall in love with a team, your life is now destined to be a series of highs and lows forever, and your emotions will get the better of you from time-to-time. This last point, incidentally, has repercussions; it leaves many people close to you confused, wondering why you simply can’t “snap out of your bad mood” that lasts a day or two. Especially if they don’t like football!
For me, one thing that makes the game so beautiful is the “unclean” aspect of it. I used to love standing on a terrace, packed in tightly, taking in the electric atmosphere and second hand smoke. My view was often obstructed, but I didn’t care. Sadly, terraces are now, for the most part, a thing of the past, especially in the higher English leagues. My hope is that one day “Safe Standing” will be introduced to grounds in England, and we can once again safely enjoy the best way to watch the game - on one’s feet! So the sanitizing of football began with the removal of terraces. This came at a time when other big changes to the game were occurring; Sky TV were injecting money into the game. The Premier League was formed, making the top league more prestigious. Clubs got richer, which led to an influx of foreign talent to the Premier League. Ticket prices shot up, and the demographics of football supporters changed significantly in the top 2 leagues.
So where does VAR fit into all of this? Simply put, the Video Assistant Referee is another major step in the sanitizing of the Beautiful Game. Part of the fun is debating the controversial decisions made by referees and their assistants. I think of the countless conversations I have had with fellow supporters over the years after games: “I can’t believe the ref didn’t spot that!” or “Wow, we were lucky to get away with that one today!”. Part of being a football supporter is bemoaning your luck when the officials get it wrong at your team’s expense, and basking in the smugness of having won a game thanks to your bustling central defender wiping out 3 players during a goalmouth scramble. Back in 2002, when the Albion were on a ten game losing streak in the league, they raced into a 2 goal lead against Sheffield United. The referee for the game, Phil Prosser, went down in Albion history by awarding Sheffield United a couple of penalties, and literally helping them to a 4-2 win. This sparked a mini-riot, and Ivor Caplin, a Member of Parliament for Hove at the time and a life-long Brighton fan, even suggested that Phil Prosser should be banned from officiating! Was it an awful day? Of course! But at the same time, I’m glad we have experienced days like this and still talk about them almost 20 years later. VAR would almost certainly have cleaned up Prosser’s mess, and we’d have gone on to win. But where’s the magic? How are memories created without the pain and glory of human error? One thing is for sure - Stuart Storer’s goal in the last game at the Goldstone would have been ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper. That would have left the Albion in a right old pickle!
Phil Prosser - not the most popular referee amongst Brighton fans of a certain age.
I'm Happy VAR wasn't around in 1997! Stuart Storer's winning goal in the last game at our beloved Goldstone Ground, Brighton.
Another reason to dislike VAR - the “not knowing” aspect when your team scores. Once upon a time, the ball would hit the net, and you knew you’d scored, apart from the occasional time the assistant referee raised a flag. Now, the fun is slowly seeping out of the traditional goal celebration. It is now intruded upon by uncertainty, and too often disappointment as each goal is checked for “clear and obvious” errors made by the referee. The trouble is, as we’ve seen all too often, one person’s definition of “clear and obvious” is very different to someone else's. The lack of consistency is brutal! I am also fed up with goals being disallowed by cameras picking out a player who was offside several phases prior to the goal by a gnat’s nasal hair. When Brighton played Bournemouth at home this season, they were winning 1-0 but in search of a second goal to put the result beyond doubt. Dan Burn put the ball in the net, only for the tightest of VAR offside calls to rule it out. I immediately went from jumping for joy around my living room to having to accept that this is the new, sanitized, version of football. The quest to stamp out error (which ironically has created a completely different set of errors) has arrived at the expense of fun.
The story of Dan Burn and the gnat's nasal hair.
In conclusion, if you haven’t realized already, I hate VAR! I have no cause to be bitter; in fact, I read somewhere that Brighton are one of the top beneficiaries of VAR. I just feel it’s another step towards crushing the soul of the game. I no longer jump around like a lunatic when Brighton score, making my own children cry as they wonder what’s happening to Daddy. Instead, I wait patiently for the necessary technology checks. By the time the goal is awarded, the wind is well and truly out of my sails in the celebration department. In an attempt for football perfection, an element of its beauty has been lost. I preferred it as it was - imperfect, controversial, dramatic, and spontaneous. I know many disagree, but I can’t see me changing my mind any time soon.
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