Written by : @ciaran_judge

Strangely, the most depressing thing sitting in the London Stadium on the first game of the season wasn’t the result – it was the chaotic nature of the decisions of VAR. VAR does not consider the people in the stadium.

During the various decisions, no-one appeared to know what was going on. It killed the moment. ‘Clear and obvious,’ we are told. Was Raheem Sterling clearly and obviously offside? You would have to say no. We have heard the pundits explain that it isn’t VAR’s fault the laws (never say rules, you will be corrected by a pedant at some point) need to change – blah blah blah. My question is why? Why does it have to change? The old troupe that ‘these decisions are costing clubs millions’ is trotted out. If a Centre Half doesn’t track his man at a corner and that results in a goal in, say October, that is never highlighted as being pivotal in the same way a poor refereeing decision is. Both are mistakes, but one human error is accepted as part of the game while the other is deemed worthy of public rebuke for months from “experts” who have the luxury of being able to do their job without a stadium full of fans and pitch full of players just primed and ready to jump on your next mistake.

Think of some of the great moments in football – Sergio Aguero, Michael Thomas – watch those goals back and look at the scenes. Football is about the great moments good and bad, it’s an instinctive game made beautiful by the players. It wasn’t meant to be perfect, and that’s why so many of the laws are subjective not binary.

Football needs to look at the environment the officials must do their job in. It can only hinder their ability and its remarkable that they are correct over 95% of the time over the course of the season. Yes, we have witnessed some outrageous decisions go against us and we all have our long list, but chances are we won’t have a list where we were the beneficiaries of awful decisions.

No one goes to football to see the officials. They are part of the equipment of the game. Football is about the players and the moments they create; nothing more nothing less. Your team scoring a goal is the ultimate feeling as a fan; for that split second you are united with everyone – lost in a moment. Think for one moment what its like to score that goal. Anything that diminishes that feeling cannot be good for the game.

It’s hard to understand how VAR can be applied to Sterling in the City game but not for Haller’s foul in the Norwich game. Sterling was an inch offside, Haller was blatantly fouled. If clear and obvious was applied, Haller would have won a penalty and Jesus’s goal would have stood.

We must trust the officials and accept the mistakes as part of the game. Then we can get on with enjoying the moments the players create, rather than pontificating over such small margins.

Football isn’t perfect, but it is interesting and entertaining, and its still the best game in the world – but VAR just doesn’t help in its current guise.

Football has bigger problems than the laws. The powers that be should look at how few Premier League clubs pay their staff a living wage, or how a club like Bury can go the wall while the Premier League clubs combined to give Richard Scudamore a £5 million leaving bonus. That’s the clear and obvious decisions we should be focusing on, not how a “bad decision can cost a club millions.”

It happens, and the game would be better if we could accept the decisions good and bad. It’s not easy but it’s better than VAR.