Alan Shearer believes football fans are “stuck” with VAR while ripping into the controversial technology.
Introduced to the masses in 2018, VAR was a product years in the making following years of referee debate. Calls to follow other sports heightened after Frank Lampard’s “ghost goal” for England against Germany at the 2010 World Cup.
Goal-line technology was the first step into an equipment-driven game before VAR, assessing everything from red cards, penalties and offsides, became the norm less than a decade later. However, the system has proven anything but a roaring success.
Debates about the software continue to plague post-match debate almost five years on from its introduction to the Premier League. A BBC poll last summer found that 63 per cent of supporters were against the technology altogether.
Newcastle United legend Shearer has predicted VAR to stay given the funds invested by football authorities – who also come under criticism. His comments come after more controversy during Arsenal’s Champions League draw with Bayern Munich.
“We’re stuck with it (VAR),” Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast. “We’ve invested too much into it. I know it hasn’t worked anywhere near as well as it should have or it hasn’t been used like how we were told.
“The lawmakers, seriously, that’s half the problem. They make it so complicated. It’s hard enough anyway for referees but, with the mad, crazy, over-the-top laws, it’s so hard for them.
“The last thing I’ll say on this, is that, (if you) go back four years or however long it has been, we wanted it (VAR) in the format they said. They told us it would not re-referee the games.
“Blatantly, that is happening every single game. It was only for the ‘clear and obvious’ which is clearly not the case. They are re-refereeing and the decisions they are overturning are not clear and obvious. That’s what they told us, and it’s not happening. They used the Thierry Henry handball (against Republic of Ireland in 2009) as an example.”
