Abstract
The video assistant referee (VAR) in association football was developed to help on-field referees judge potentially game-changing decisions correctly by reviewing video evidence in real time. VAR was implemented by the English Premier League (EPL) ahead of the 2019/20 season. Despite its potential benefits, VAR also presents the risk of not being well perceived by fans. This article aims to investigate fans’ perceptions towards VAR in the EPL. Total of 1350 EPL fans from different age groups above 18 years old completed an online survey on their opinion of VAR and changes they felt would make VAR better. The majority of fans were happy for VAR to continue being used in the EPL, but expressed that changes need to be made in terms of how VAR is being used by on-field referees and to assess certain situations. All age groups were generally positive towards the idea of using technology in the EPL to support referee decisions and provide more information to in-stadium fans, but younger age groups showed significantly more positive perceptions than their older counterparts. Implications include advice for the EPL to make changes according to fans’ opinions and to develop frameworks for making changes with fans as stakeholders in mind.
Highlights
The video assistant referee (VAR) in association football is a tool developed by theRoyal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) to help on-field referees judge potentially gamechanging decisions correctly by reviewing video evidence from multiple angles immediately after situations have taken place (KNVB n.d.)
The results show that the participants agreed that changes need to be made on how VAR is used, with nine survey items displaying a mean value over 3
When conducting one-way ANOVAs with repeated measures and dependent groups to compare items between each other, it is worth noting that there are significant differences at the 5% level between each item except items 8 and 3, as well as items 13 and 12, in support of a positive answer to research question 1. This means that the English Premier League (EPL) could confidently prioritise the changes to be made based on fans’ perception
Summary
The video assistant referee (VAR) in association football is a tool developed by theRoyal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) to help on-field referees judge potentially gamechanging decisions correctly by reviewing video evidence from multiple angles immediately after situations have taken place (KNVB n.d.). Reviewing VAR evidence does not take up anywhere near the same time of a game when compared to set pieces, but since this a rather new phenomenon, fans attending in the stadium tends to notice it more, especially in stadiums where big screens are not installed, as the consumers often do not know what situation is being reviewed, causing confusion and frustration whenever a VAR situation takes up a few minutes (Spitz et al 2021) This confusion and frustration might be reduced as stadium attendees will gradually get used to the presence of VAR in football, but as it stands, watching the game from home provides a much better opportunity to understand what is happening during a VAR review, and why, when compared to stadiums without big screens. This risk may lead to the subsequent risk of fans being less willing to attend games in stadium, which may have a negative economic and financial impact on clubs
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