VAR is doomed because fans will never truly trust its technology

Now and again, too rarely, you get a sense of your life slipping away in real time. Usually this comes during hour two of a zonked-out doomscroll, realising you have consumed everything new across your preferred social networks with nothing to show for it beyond a jangly, hollowed-out feeling. You can achieve a similar effect with prolonged exposure to the VAR discourse.

Six years of outrage now, since the system was first trialled in the 2017-18 FA Cup. We lurch between re-litigating individual decisions, begging for consistency at times then common sense at others, with occasional existential howls which greet moments like Coventry’s disallowed goal in the FA Cup semi-final. Nottingham Forest broke with protocol and decency last weekend to imply the strings of the Premier League are being pulled by the pernicious influence of Big Luton. We were promised a future without rancour over refereeing decisions, the present has only delivered an extra layer.

Forget about the laws, and ponder the system. It relies on cameras operating at 50 or 60 frames per second which may be inadequate for Premier League passes and players. The Mail on Sundayestimated in 2019 that framerate limitations could mean a margin for error of offsides for the quickest players of 38.8cm. That is not the fabled toenail or armpit, it is a size 20 shoe.

Research by Dr Pooya Soltani of the University of Bath in 2022 found that participants invited to assess VAR-standard footage judged balls were kicked 132 milliseconds later than they had been in reality. “Although seemingly minor, at high speeds, this delay can lead to significant player displacement,” he says. “In faster-paced sports, where athletes move even more swiftly, this displacement is magnified, consequently widening the margin of error.”