By Ras Wadada
When it was announced, in March of this year, by FIFA that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be a new innovation at Russia 2018 there were mixed reactions from around the world with most of the skeptics citing that the flow of the game would be interrupted as well as the suggestion that the new technological idea should be given more time before being introduced at the quadrennial showpiece.
VAR has been in existence for over a year at multiple major leagues around the world, including the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie ‘A’ and the USA’s Major League. So while it might be strange to some players at the 21st edition of the World Cup, others have already been exposed to it and have experienced its good intent in bringing more fairness to the ‘Beautiful Game’. All major sports use modern video technology to enhance officiating among other key areas of development.
There can be no denial of the huge impact and real value of the VAR on Russia 2018, though there have been some questionable decisions in some instances that were clear to the eyes of viewers. According to statistics revealed by FIFA, 99.3 percent of match changing plays were called correctly during the group stage games of Russia 2018, indicating how close to perfection is video review.
