If you’ve ever played a sport with a referee, you know that sometimes they can be wrong. There have been games that you likely came out of feeling cheated, and we’ve all used a few choice words to express our frustrations. Oppositely, there have also been games (although MUCH fewer) where we felt overall satisfied with the calls a ref made. This inconsistency with referees has for the longest time fallen under the category “it be like that sometimes.”
For the FIFA World Cup, that changed this year. During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Gianni Infantino, the current president of FIFA, decided to introduce video replays during the games. This means that, if there is a controversial call, game-play can be reviewed and a definitive call can be made. This program is called VAR (Video Assistant Referees) and has been highly debated since it was announced that this would even be a possibility. Now that the games (+ a few months) have passed, many have begun reflecting on this years’ games and preparing for the 2022 tournament.
Those who oppose VAR have complained that it ruins the fast-paced thrill of a soccer game and that it diminishes the authority of the referee. Many have also critiqued the program for taking away the drama of the soccer game, which has been historically fueled by controversial calls. Inversely, some believe that VAR will help to make games fairer by eliminating human error from referee calls. Even now, the issue is still contentious, and there likely won’t be a resolution for years to come.