The Premier League has a problem, and I am not writing this as a disgruntled Tottenham Hotspur fan whose team lost the possibility of a 2-0 lead away at Leicester. We were still 1-0 up and conspired to lose a game we were in the ascendancy of. Tottenham as a team has problems, and you cannot blame VAR.
I also write this piece as a football referee, one who has done the job for 20 years. Not since the back pass rule have we seen such a stark change at the top of professional football - a rule change that is changing the nature of football so much that it is all we talk about at length.
I accept the VAR decision (eventually), yet I am flummoxed that the FA, UEFA and FIFA are treating the utilisation of video technology with such difficulty as if it is the first time anyone has seen such technology before, as if they are reinventing the wheel.
Football feels it is the global sport, and to a great extent they are right. It is played everywhere, even Greenland, with over 200 nations in its world rankings attempting to qualify for Qatar 2022 where the final 32 nations will converge for the ultimate accolade.
Yet there are smaller sports in terms of global reach and power that utilise their own version of VAR to a greater benefit of integrity and professional standards.
Cricket take the border line fine margins such as LBW appeals, run out and stumpings to be clear in those matters; yet they broadcast it to the paying public at the ground to show the decision, they are also involved then in the theatre of the moment. At this moment, the public at the ground for football are oblivious of the video being shown to the VAR officials - this is disrespectful and ignorant of the masses.
Rugby Union is enjoying its own World Cup in Japan, in the England game versus Tonga there were three possible tries in the first half; one given, one denied and one resulted in a kickable penalty. However, again the screen in the stadium was shown the footage; yet the difference is the referee is mic'd up talking to the man in the booth conversing on the decision at length but with intelligence and clarity to make sure the correct decision is reached.
It helps that rugby has a foundation of respect towards match officials, but the official is given the space to think and come to the correct conclusion. Unlike football where you would be encircled by both sides wanting their preferred outcome. In that instance you have 22 voices shouting at you and one in your ear, when you should be focusing on hearing the one in your ear. No wonder the pressure is so high, how can you concentrate when you have so many voices baying at you.
Yet the arrogance of football, as the global commodity it is which comes with a global currency is intrinsic to the problem. Football is a universal language as all high class sports are, a language that crosses boundaries, cultures and dialects to be played by all; yet the arrogance with which they have gone about implementing video technology - from the reluctance to utilise goal-line technology at World Cups to the unwillingness to address visual and verbal dissent towards highly pressurised match officials smacks of governing bodies standing still while the world sped up, even throwing the collective full VAR muscle at the Women's World Cup smacking of hypocrisy and sexism making the women mere guinea pigs for the more important male subjects.
Football is game that is simple to play, simple to coach and if done right, simple to referee. Yet the game has slowly been stripped off its values as bank balances swelled and popularity soared to unseemly levels.
While VAR will become more expected as creases are ironed out over the season - a number of games have gone by without incident - yet they need it to alter initial penalty decisions overturn errors and have a referee go to the video itself to see the error of his or her ways.
Football should realise it is not reinventing the wheel, just added a better tyre to help with the tread.
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