The clubs of the Premier League will vote in the assembly for the elimination of the WAS for the 2024/2025 season. The information of Sky Sports y The Athletic claims that it was Wolverhampton the institution that started this new controversy and proposed to debate the continuity or not of the system, which since 2019 has had technology at the disposal of the referees in the english football.
The Wolves formally presented a letter to the Premier League for all clubs to vote at the Annual General Assembly that takes place each year in June.
“The introduction of VAR in 2019/20 was a decision taken in good faith and taking into account the best interests of football and the Premier League,” the letter from the historic club that wears its traditional orange shirt, founded in the year, begins. 1877 and in the elite of English football after its most recent promotion in 2018.
For Wolves, VAR “has given rise to numerous unintended negative consequences that are damaging the relationship between fans and football, and undermining the value of the Premier League brand”, and then lists the nine considerations that support their position.
* Negative impact on the celebration of goals and the spontaneous passion that makes football special.
* Frustration and confusion within stadiums due to lengthy VAR checks and poor communication.
*A more hostile environment with protests, boos of the Premier League anthem and chants against the VAR.
* Exceeding the original purpose of VAR to correct clear and obvious errors, now analyzing subjective decisions and compromising the fluidity and integrity of the game.
* Decreased responsibility of referees on the field, due to the VAR safety net, leading to an erosion of authority on the field.
* Continuous errors despite VAR, with fans unable to accept human error after multiple views and replays, damaging confidence in refereeing standards.
* Disruption of the fast pace of the Premier League with lengthy VAR reviews and more added time, causing matches to become excessively long.
* The constant talk about VAR decisions often overshadows the match itself and tarnishes the reputation of the league.
* Erosion of trust and reputation, with the VAR fueling completely absurd accusations of corruption.
“Our position is that the price we are paying for a small increase in accuracy goes against the spirit of our game and, as a result, we should remove it from the 2024/25 season,” say the Wolves in summary, to explain some of the reasons why football was better without the presence of VAR.
The Premier’s response
According to British media, the English league will approve Wolverhampton’s initiative and the controversy surrounding the VAR will be debated at the meeting on June 6, in Harrogate, with representatives of the 20 clubs that comprise it. However, they do not see it likely that this idea will end up being imposed on the rest of the teams.
According to Premier regulations, Wolverhampton’s proposal would need a two-thirds majority to be approved, so there would have to be a vote of 14 to 6 to achieve the removal of VAR from British stadiums.
“The top flight’s board believes that removing VAR is not the right way forward, suggesting that doing so would increase wrong decisions and negatively impact the reputation of the Premier League among Europe’s top divisions,” The Athletic states, citing as a source to a league spokesperson.
The fear in England of the departure of VAR has to do with the “vacuum” that the absence of technology in the game would leave, increasing criticism of the referees and the frustration of the fans. On the other hand, they believe that the latest innovations established in the Premier, such as the semi-automatic offside system, will collaborate to improve the fluidity of the game.
As they maintain, technology brought justice to English football. According to a statistic cited by the local press, correct decisions increased from 82 percent, before the arrival of VAR, to 96 percent in the current season.