Nearly half of frequent Premier League viewers still believe VAR is working badly, according to a poll.
YouGov’s poll found 49% of fans found the technology – now in its fourth season – is either very or fairly bad.
A further 10% we’re neutral, meaning just more than a third (38%) of those polled thinking it was working well.
Video Assistant Referees (known as VAR) have been a topic of constant debate since its introduction at the start of the 2019/20 campaign.
And after a significant human error during the top-of-the-table clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool – when a Luis Diaz goal was incorrectly ruled out – VAR has been thrown into the spotlight again.
Tottenham Hotspur went on to win the fixture 2-1 against a nine-man Liverpool side that had received two red cards, leading outraged fans to question how the game could have been different if VAR had made the right call earlier in the match.
The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), which oversees refereeing decisions in the league, quickly issued a statement to apologise. Audio of the officials’ breakdown in communications was later released.
This led to research company YouGov conducting a poll with frequent Premier League viewers asking their opinions on how VAR is being used in the league.
This means that just over a third (38%) of those polled believe that VAR is actually working well, a damning statistic for the PGMOL.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this season that the PGMOL have admitted that VAR has made a significant error in a crucial match.
In the closing moments of Manchester United’s opening fixture of the season, goalkeeper Andre Onana clashed with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Sasa Kalajdzic in an attempt to stop the striker taking a shot.
Whilst many fans believed that this was a foul which would therefore give Wolves a penalty, the onfield decision from VAR was not to award a penalty and the match ended 1-1.
Speaking in his post-match press conference shortly after, Wolves manager Gary O’Neil revealed that PGMOL’s Jonathan Moss had apologised to him as VAR had made a mistake.
O’Neil told the media: “Having just spoken to Jonathan Moss he apologised and said it was a blatant penalty and should have been given, he can’t believe VAR didn’t intervene.”
It therefore comes as no surprise that in a second poll conducted by YouGov, 54% of Premier League viewers said that VAR has made football matches less enjoyable.
Despite the negativity towards VAR, only 16% think it should be scrapped whereas 79% of frequent viewers believe that it should be kept in some form.
Feature image: © Homer Lopez. Via Unsplash.
