Premier League admits VAR delays is spoiling fans' enjoyment of football Matches now last an average of over 101 minutes, despite a clampdown on time-wasting by players, leading a league official to admit the in-stadium experience for the supporter is "nowhere near good enough". Rob Harris Sports correspondent @RobHarris The Premier League now admits VAR decisions are too slow and is spoiling the enjoyment for supporters. Delays repeatedly checking replays of key incidents mean matches are stretching far beyond the 90 minutes of regulation time. According to data from the 228 fixtures so far, the average game length is now 101 minutes, 41 seconds - three and half minutes longer than last season - amid a clampdown as well on time-wasting by players. Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes said "the whole reputation of VAR" is affected by the number of VAR checks and the lack of clear communication for fans in stadiums. Mr Scholes said: "The VAR experience is poor, the in-stadium experience for the supporter. It's nowhere near good enough. We know it's not. "It affects supporters' enjoyment of the game, and we know it needs to change." They are lobbying the International Football Association Board (IFAB) [football's law-making body], to be allowed to make VAR decisions "as open, transparent and informative" to supporters, so eventually video and audio of reviews are broadcast live to TV viewers and to fans in stadiums. More immediately, the hope is to have the referee announcing the post-VAR review decision broadcast publicly - as was trialled at the Women's World Cup last year. But referees should still be more sparing in deferring to video replays, although VAR can only be used to review goals, penalties, red cards and mistaken identity. "It's to a degree understandable given the level of scrutiny these guys are under, from ourselves, also from you guys [the media] as well and from supporters. "But the reviews are taking too long and it's affecting the flow of the game and we're extremely aware of that and the need to improve that speed, whilst always maintaining the accuracy." The league says 96% of decisions are now correct, compared to 82% before VAR was introduced in 2019. But VAR has still led to 20 errors until just past the halfway point this season compared to 25 in all of the last campaign. There are also 17 instances where VAR did not intervene as it should have and twice when it ruled incorrectly.
Only affects the Prem , so the extra time in the EFL has nothing to do with VAR . It’s time wasting , injuries goals etc . not interested in VAR until we have it .
I sort of suspect that part of the reason that VAR is here to stay, despite its extreme unpopularity, is that parts of the football media like the controversy of it. You can easily see when they're discussing a game in the studio afterwards, that those controversial moments are a commodity to them. They're as much a part of the drama and excitement as goals are. Which is wrong, but it does seem to be the case. I don't think Sky and certain others would want to go back to a simpler time with less to complain about, and we know what a strong influence they have over the game.
Probably the best bit and more entertaining than the game these days with both teams just playing 10,000,000,000,000 passes between goalkeeper and defenders.
Watched a game the other night....Game stopped, went to VAR for a decision.. Spent about 4 minutes discussing if his toenail was offside....Ref added on 2 mins at the end!!!!!!
I just don't understand why the screens at matches dont allow fans to see the replays that are shown on TV . fans left in the dark waiting to see the outcome, ridiculous
I suppose it's hard to prove, but it feels like there's more controversial decisions now than there ever were before VAR. Obviously they happened before and people did moan, and the pundits/Sky loved it then too, but I think they've got more to work with than ever before now.
VAR seemed like a really good idea when you’re sitting watching Sky with all the angles, the offside lines ready & clear, then they turn up with a Robin Reliant version, where the wheels might fall off at any second. The people that get the VAR decisions wrong, shouldn’t be allowed to be in there again.
Giving a person one chance to be perfect at their job isn't really the way to go about getting the correct decisions made.
It didn’t to me, but even if you thought it was then it was only really designed for those sat watching Sky…not those stood in the ground watching the game live.
