Pete Wilson column: Video assistance in football a growing VAR-ce

Managers can’t agree; even experienced ex-referees are split over it and four clubs - Liverpool, Watford, Burnley and Aston Villa - formed a quartet to complain that it simply isn’t doing what it is supposed to do.

There is just no escape from VAR, but in case anybody has forgotten what the initials stand for it is Video Assistant Referees – or in plain English, just another pair of eyes, and usually those of somebody not quite as experienced as the man he is assisting.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith called it embarrassing and suggested it is sucking the fun out of the game.

At Old Trafford, Chris Sutton, striker turned pundit, wondered what ‘clear and obvious’ meant after Marcus Rashford’s goal against Liverpool was allowed to stand following a tackle on Divock Origi from Victor Lindelof in the build-up.

“How obvious do you want it?” Sutton wondered. “Do you have to smack somebody with a baseball bat or kung-fu kick him?”

Over at Leicester, Burnley were denied a late equaliser for the slightest touch on Johnny Evans while at Tottenham Deli Alli’s equaliser caused a storm and Watford were denied what everybody who saw it was a stonewall penalty.

So what is it achieving other than stirring up other problems that were not even an issue before it was introduced?

You may have gathered by now that this column is not the place to find support for the latest gimmick to turn football into an amusement arcade game, but there is at least one consolation for the overwhelming majority of supporters.

It only affects ten matches a week, so if you are not the supporter of a Premier League club and you get your football-watching pleasure at any of the thousands of other grounds across the country, you can enjoy the game without worrying what a pair of eyes in a place called Stockley Park has seen – or not seen as the case may be.

*It was fun while it lasted but in the end they sent in the Heavy Mob to put a stop to all that nonsense.

They don’t build many 20-stone rugby players in Japan – Sumo wrestling has already snapped them up – so when South Africa found they were having trouble keeping tabs on the free-running, slick handling entertainers in red and white they had the answer. Send for the Heavies.

It is a common belief in the world of rugby that a good big ‘un will beat a good little ‘un and there is nothing wrong with that. But watching the life being squeezed out of the most exciting team in the World Cup was hardly memorable viewing. It was simply the matter of restoring the natural order.

Who would have bet against the semi-final line-up being England, New Zealand, Wales and South Africa?

For tension and drama, there was nothing more exciting than Wales’20-19 win over France; for efficiency there were England and New Zealand. For sheer, carefree pleasure there was Japan’s first half performance against the Springboks.

From now on things get really serious but not without pausing to say a big thank you to the charmingly-named Brave Blossoms.

*Were you glued to your TV screens on Sunday night, waiting with bated breath to see who would be the next ‘pick’ for London Spirit or Trent Rockets in The Hundred Draft?

No? Me neither. The build-up by Sky was bad enough as they tried to make the arrival of the latest TV reality show sound remotely interesting to the regular cricket follower.

As some observer pointed out, the draft took longer than an actual match.

Prices (i.e. salaries) ranging from £125,000 down to £30,000 secured the services of a whole range of players well known or hardly known at all to fill the eight franchises that will make up this latest form of instant cricket that will hit seven cities next summer.

Incidentally, our own Liam Livingstone will be wearing the Birmingham Phoenix kit and he will be expected to knock the ball out of the ground at regular intervals while bowlers tear their hair out because that is what The Hundred is all about.

How it is an improvement on the T20 Blast remains to be seen.