Offside chaos: VAR keeps the pub fights alive

Before the days of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) part of the fun of football was all the arguments in pubs the following week about perceived refereeing blunders.

- by Nobby Piles

It was thought the new technology might put an end to this. But on the contrary, decisions made by VAR have been creating as many arguments as before. As one broadcaster wryly noted, “VAR giveth and taketh away’.

Hardly a week goes by without some controversy and last weekend was no exception. In the Manchester City-Liverpool game, although City turned out deserving winners the main talking point was Virgil van Dyke's disallowed goal which would have made the score 1-1 at the time.

It came down to whether Liverpool’s Andy Robertson who was clearly offside, obscured the vision of City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. VAR eventually disallowed the goal citing the “interfering with play” rule.