It’s a positive move towards bettering the game.I know that this is going to be controversial and people won't agree but I have been thinking a lot lately about what is wrong with the game generally. Basically there is not much wrong with it except that it seems that too many games are decided by bad refereeing decisions, mistakes or cheating by players (diving for penalties, overacting to get opponents yellow carded or sent off). This obviously leads to lots of controversy and acrimony after games and has led, in my opinion, to the introduction of the VAR which is clearly not working.
But what is the root cause of these problems? In my opinion it is a combination of two things, the high stakes nature of many football matches and the low scores that are a product of the difficulty in scoring. Now it is obvious that the modern game with well drilled defences and sophisticated tactics have made scoring (unless you are blessed with the resources of a Barcelona or City Group) more difficult than when the game was invented. Add to that the trend for inferior teams to park the bus (a tactic favoured by gutless coaches protecting their reputations to the detriment of the game) and the chances of a result turning on a poor decision are increased.
Now how can this be addressed? I think it can be done easily without changing the laws of the game or digital intervention. Simply increase the size of the goals by, say 10 or 15 per cent. Scoring becomes easier, more goals are scored (making the game more attractive to casual spectators or the uninitiated), without goals becoming relatively pointless as in basketball of the AFL (I don't want to see games with 27-13 score lines, but less 1-0s and more 3-1s), and superior, attacking teams are rewarded. It is possible that poor teams may become more defensive, but they will concede more goals anyway, which will punish them for not having a crack.
Worth a thought?
I’d like to see a more mandated focus on the benefit of doubt going more strongly towards an attacking side. Off sides should be clearly off not over by a finger nail.
In Cricket there is always discussion on whether new developments benefit batters or bowlers, with a focus on ensuring there isn’t a huge advantage between the two.
IMO the only big focus Football has done to ensure some “balance” is clearly decide almost no player is sent off early in a match. Sadly this has just benefited the defensive side of the game as defending players are almost given free license early on to dive in and make attacking players think twice about going round them for the rest of the match. While at times causing injury without penalty.
The one aspect I’d love to see VAR take over is things like foul accumulation. I think it’s crazy a ref has to keep the game in control, watch for countless things while being mindful of whether this player has fouled 3,4 or 5 times. Surely these sort of tasks can be documented by someone in the control room. Then the ref can be informed when the player has done enough to warrant a card. These sort of aspects can swing the game more in the attacking teams favour making chance creation (excitement) more likely.