VAR needs fixed before it sucks the life out of football

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VAR needs fixed before it sucks the life out of football
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 28: Referee Willie Collum looks at a monitor as they watch a VAR Review during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Rangers FC and St. Johnstone FC at Ibrox Stadium on January 28, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It’s not often we talk about ‘rival’ managers here on Ibrox Noise, but we do agree with Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell who says the joy of scoring a goal in football has been removed thanks to VAR.

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While we’re big supporters of VAR when done right, it is apparent that Scottish refs are not very good at doing it right, and something does have to change.

Speaking of his father, the Well boss said:

“He’s just fed up with it. He’s a football enthusiast, he loves it and watches it at all levels, but he’s fed up of this idea of scoring a goal and the emotion not being there and we come back and look at it for five minutes, dissect it, find something in it and I think that’s the feeling of the general football supporter in this country.”

And we agree.

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How often have we seen a goal at Ibrox immediately becoming an issue for VAR?

Indeed, even a 30-yard piledriver we now hold our breath for VAR finding something wrong with it, and the celebration when VAR gives the goal is absurd.

It has indeed become a thing that instead of wholeheartedly celebrating and enjoying a goal, there’s now an immediate ‘yes’ then a pause to look for the ref ruling it out.

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And that’s just not football, is it?

It is absolutely right that VAR helps to correct wrongs, has a second look at clearly major errors – that’s the point of it.

But to suck out the fun completely by overanalysing every single goal that isn’t a 50-yard lob, and even then, takes away so much joy of what the basic currency of football actually is.

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There’s no such thing now as just enjoying and celebrating a goal, it’s now the instant euphoria before catching one’s self and checking for the ref putting his finger to his ear.

And that’s a buzzkill.

We need this to change, for VAR not to interfere with goals in the way it does.

It’s just no fun the way it’s become.

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