The world of football and politics was a lot more straightforward and less chaotic before Video Assisted Referees were introduced
LET me ask you this. Is VAR the reason our Government is in a complete mess?
Bear with me here.
You may well, like me, think the introduction of the Video Assisted Ref is the worst thing that has happened to the beautiful game, since players started wearing colourful boots.
It causes too many stoppages, spreads bitterness, is often wrong and seems to cause way more problems than it solves.
In the last week alone it has had too much of a bearing on the title race and relegation spots of the Premier League and the destination of the championship in Scotland.
It comes as the Prem League Key Match Incidents Panel says the VAR has been wrong 23 times this season.
Which, if you watch football at all, is a criminal underestimate of the true figure.
So VAR is crap. Agreed?
But what, I hear you ask, has this got to do with the current shambles of the shower running the country?
Well look at the facts.
VAR was brought into the UK in 2019.
Up to that point football fans were fairly content with the complete unfairness and randomness of decisions made by referees and their often short-sighted linesmen.
And the country had a fairly steady run of Prime Ministers, with Theresa May being just the sixth leader since 1979.
And then in 2019, chaos begins. We’ve had five PMs, including May, in quick succession and it looks like we’ll be onto our sixth soon.
Now, you’re saying, what are you on about pal, that’s surely just a coincidence and VAR surely can’t be blamed for Boris Johnson?
Well perhaps not.
But both situations are irrevocably linked by the world we live in now.
VAR was touted as being flawless and a way to stop controversial decisions happening immediately.
In the same way it seems there is an expectation that all the problems of the country need to be solved instantly.
If not, then you’re out on your ear mate.
Next.
And in both instances this impatient desperation to solve everything at breakneck speed is making everything worse.
I’m no fan of Keir Starmer but he was given a mandate for an entire Parliament and his party have decided to try and boot him out two years in.
What about the public who voted him in?
We should be given the chance to kick him out.
And wouldn’t the world be better if we just let things take their course?
So is VAR to blame?
Who knows.
But why don’t we get rid and see if it miraculously solves our crisis in Westminster.
And if not, we’ll at least get our football back.