Liverpool fans take a look at the VAR screen on the pitch at Anfield Stadium
Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images
If you have seen any football – or football – in recent years, you’ll know that the game has been consumed by controversy surrounding its new refereeing technology. The Video assistant referee (VAR) system was introduced in 2019 in the English Premier League to reduce refereeing errors and make more correct decisions. Instead, it has created new types of uncertainty and undermined understanding of basic rules such as offside and handball. It has also angered the fans, who often hear “it’s not football anymore” after a lengthy VAR check.
It’s fair to say that football fans love to get angry, especially when refereeing decisions go against their team. But as I argue in my new book, I can’t stop thinking about VARthere is more to this than meets the eye. As someone whose job involves developing new methods of measuring educational attainment, I’ve thought long and hard about why VAR has been so frustrating. I think its problems are related to the challenge of defining it objective realitythe difficulty of accurate measurement and human disapproval the uncertainty.
However, what I have come to realize is that VAR shows its limitations rationality in various fields beyond the football field. So, a brief exploration measurement history in a wider way: XVIII. From attempts to determine the boiling point of water in the 20th century to the struggle to accurately assess…
