Following a survey about Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the Premier League, a mixed verdict has been reached after fans who watched the league regularly were asked questions.
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A YouGov poll in the UK found that 67 percent of fans surveyed say that games are now less enjoyable to watch since VAR was introduced at the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
However, only 15 percent of those asked wanted to scrap the system altogether as 74 percent believed it should remain in the PL but being altered.
How can VAR be changed for the better? The main changes fans agree with are that supporters in the stadium should see the incident under review at the same time as the referees (81 percent) and 80 percent of those asked said referees should use the pitchside monitors.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and the Premier League had previously told referees not to use the pitchside monitors but those rules changed in December and since then there have been two incidents (at Norwich and Crystal Palace) where referees have reviewed incidents on the pitchside monitors.
Of course, this is a small sample size who were answering these questions but it does seem to reflect the general feeling of how VAR has been used in its debut season in the Premier League.
Generally decisions are correct but there are still some situations where VAR doesn’t really help as handball calls and red card decisions are objective. When it comes to offside, that is where the biggest improvement has been made as replays clearly show whether a player is offside or not after scoring a goal. Although that has been far from straightforward as several goals have been chalked off for a player having half a toe, an armpit or a kneecap offside.
How could VAR be improved in the Premier League? Please leave your thoughts (of which we know you have many on this particular subject!) in the comments section below. This should be interesting.
