Will football fans ever be happy, or are they addicted to outrage? In April, Coventry City played Manchester United in the semi-final of the FA Cup. Coventry was denied a dramatic winner in the last few minutes of extra time by the decision of the video assistant referee (VAR). It was a wildly controversial moment that focussed yet more attention on VAR, football’s attempt to provide referees with some technological support.
For some, it proved that VAR is a disaster. The decision to disallow the goal for offside took away a moment of joyful spontaneity in favour of lengthy scrutiny of a TV replay that may not have had enough frames per second to be accurate.
Paradoxically, by improving refereeing standards you increase the outrage against remaining errors
For others, the controversy was hard to understand and only showed that football fans are impossible to please. Offside is extremely difficult for humans to judge in real time, so it will always be better to use a TV replay.
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