VAR Killed the Football Star

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:44:53 -0700

The FIFA World Cup is in full swing and so are the various controversies. There’s a lot to discuss but I don’t want to get political, so let’s focus on the VAR or Video Assistant Referee. In the old days of football (by which I mean soccer to some of you), you did what you could get away with. If you snuck offsides a bit and the line referee didn’t see you, you’re good. If you get the ball over the goal line and the keeper circles it out as if they caught it and sent it back out, that’s fine if the referee didn’t call the goal. If you miss a header and punch it in with your fist, no problem. It all hinged on did a human referee see it and call it: not an algorithm, not a video replay.

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VAR Killed the Football Star