VAR is changing more than football, it is changing how we celebrate

Decision-making is VAR by other means. The video assistant referee (VAR) has already shown a taste for drama during this World Cup. But the way things are going, consider the likelihood of decisions not just overturned minutes later, but weeks, months, even years into the future.

A goal celebrated in June could be annulled in December. The mind boggles. The implications are profound. Not just football fans but humanity in general would start celebrating more cautiously, perhaps with a polite golf clap rather than a full-throated roar. 'Lovely numbers,' a board member might murmur, 'but let's wait until 2029 to be sure.'

Policymakers would keep their tactical notebooks open indefinitely, just in case the peace announced in West Asia retroactively is cancelled in the next quarter on some offside-y technicality.


Economists could well add 'VAR risk' to their models, a kind of Vodafone retro tax thing in spot decision terms. VAR would then become not just a referee but also creator of a whole philosophy: joy is temporary (or is it? ), celebration provisional (or is it? ), and history itself subject to review (or is it? ).

'Not so fast' would be ingrained in every optimist's head. VAR may rob us forever of spontaneous joy - lest it ends up misplaced. But don't shudder. Not just yet. For even pessimism may be overturned by the Great VAR in the Sky.