There is a change happening in soccer as I write this. It started as a small experiment a few years ago, and few pundits and fans paid mind to it. In their eyes, it was a dalliance with a comical thought that it wouldn’t become an ubiquity in the sport. But this experiment grew and grew with small changes until it found its way into the highest levels of the sport. Now, a new technology looms large over the sport—watching and analyzing with cold impartiality. I, for one, did not think it would reach this stage, but more leagues around the world are accepting what’s called Video Assistant Referees. This technology known as VAR uses a series of cameras placed at strategic locations in stadiums to track every movement of the ball the players as they move up and down the pitch. Every angle is covered and a team of referees inside a room filled with screens analyze the game to the letter of the law.

But what is the true purpose of VAR? Is it meant to suck the life and drama out of soccer or is it a supplemental aid to the decision-making methods of the head official? At this point it seems that the technology is here to stay. So, the best thing is for us to understand what it is and how it impacts the game. I am going to give you some insight into the history of VAR and how it’s used. It might not be the harbinger of doom, but it could erase many potentially legendary moments from the future.

The Experiment Begins

VAR was conceived in the Netherlands around the early 2010s as the Refereeing 2.0 project. The system was implemented in a trial setting during the country’s top football competition, the 2012-13 Eredivisie season. After further trials, the International Football Association Board approved of implementing the system on a wider scale. There was a bit of conflict during this time as the then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter was vociferous in his opposition to the technology. VAR may have eventually died in its trial period had Blatter kept his role as president, but a major corruption scandal in 2015 forced him out of office. Blatter’s successor, Gianni Infantino had a much warmer reception to the technology, and a live trial started in 2016. This trial happened during a United Soccer League match. The results from this trial led to its use during an international friendly between France and Italy that year.

The first major soccer league to use the technology in full was the Australian A-League in 2017. It was effective in identifying illegal plays, which led to its implementation in Major League Soccer in the United States that same year. The first use of the technology in an international competition (outside of friendlies) was the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. This led to FIFA utilizing VAR during the 2018 World Cup. The first European leagues to adopt the technology in 2017 were Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A, followed by Spain’s La Liga in 2018. For 2019, England’s Premier League and the UEFA Champions League signed on to use the technology in their respective competitions.

How Does VAR Work?

I have written about the on-field team of match officials, but since the use of VAR came into existence, a separate team has joined the ranks. These referees are situated into a media room where they monitor the action on several screens during the match. They are put on a 3-second delay so that they are given time to review footage and then communicate with the head official on the field. This team consists of the head VAR and one or two assistant VARs that serve as an extra pair of eyes on identifying players or offside penalties. What’s important to know is that the VAR doesn’t make decisions for the referee. They are exclusively there to confirm calls or offer guidance to reverse decisions. There are four factors when a VAR review comes into play. VAR can be used to review goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity if a referee makes an incorrect booking as a result of an infraction.

The steps to using VAR goes that when an infraction occurs, the referee informs VAR of the incident or VAR recommends that an incident should be reviewed. When this happens, the referee will point to their ear-bud and hold up their other arm signaling that deliberation is happening. If video footage shows that a review should happen, the referee will make a rectangular outline with their arms to signify to the players, coaches, and spectators that the play will be reviewed. At this point the referee will exit the pitch to a video board outside the bounds of play and the referee will make their decision from there. At this point the referee can decide if their initial decision stands or if they have decided to reverse the decision because of the video review.

What does this mean for the sport?

Looking back on the 2018 FIFA World Cup, officials reviewed the data and confirmed that it was the cleanest World Cup since 1986. There were no red cards issued in the first eleven games and throughout the whole tournament only four players were sent off due to serious infractions. That number hadn’t been seen since the 1978 tournament. What’s interesting to note is that 29 penalty kicks were awarded and 22 were converted into goals. This beat the previous record of 17 in 1998. VAR showed its use in catching penalties that would have otherwise gone unpunished. This put a lot of players on notice that their shenanigans would not go unnoticed.

As with all forms of change, VAR has its share of detractors. The responsibility of making penalty decisions falls on the head referee alone. Subjectivity is often in the eye of the beholder. But a clearly obvious foul was allowed to slip by even after a video review. In 2017 during the FIFA Confederations Cup competition in Russia, a dramatic foul went unpunished when Chile’s Gonzalo Jara elbowed Germany’s Timo Werner. Match referee Milorad Mazic was recommended by VAR to review the infraction, and even afterward, decided that no penalty was warranted. Three minutes were needed to review the incident, but ultimately Mazic decided that an obvious red card penalty only deserved a yellow card. ESPN senior writer Mark Ogden wrote about the incident in an incendiary take-down of the system. He said, “Now an elbow is an elbow, or so most would assume, but there is the matter of intent, and that is ultimately a subjective decision of the referee. This is also the case when a foul is committed in the penalty area, or when it appears to have been a foul, only for replays to show that contact may or may not have forced the attacker to go down.”

This is one of many examples where infractions have gone inexplicably unpunished or reversals have been rejected. But it’s important to know that the use of the technology will take a long adjustment period. When other sports have implemented replay technology, the sports writers and fans have expressed a natural resistance to it. But over time, even those sports have fully implemented the technology and hardly anybody notices anymore. For what it’s worth, I think the sport loses none of the drama because of this video system. If anything, it increases the stakes as players come to realize that some of their gamesmanship is no longer incognito.

It’s hard to tell what sort of impact technology will ultimately have on soccer and sports in general. There’s a sort of vibe to soccer that causes many fans a lot of discomfort as they adjust to the implementation of VAR. Video replays may make more sense in other sports like baseball or American football where there’s a natural stop-and-go to the rate of play. In soccer, it’s harder to see a natural fit for replays and deliberation. If you look throughout the years, the most dramatic moments of soccer happened because of the natural flow of the game and the unknown variable of human error. I, for one, accept the coming of our video screen overlords with the caveat that its use is done correctly, consistently, and expediently. Experience with the technology will come with time, but the sport will have its share of purists. Only time will tell whether this technology has a positive or negative effect on the sport. Thank you so much for reading. As always, be well and watch more soccer.