Since its inception the VAR has had its ups and downs there is criticism left right and center on its role in making a football match entertaining as perceived to be.Many have criticized it both positively to enhance its efficiency on the other hand others have taken the low road and negated such important a milestone in the football world.There have also been instances where football stakeholders never wished for this addition to come in,especially when your team is in dire desperation for a win ,you score a goal and that goal is cancelled.Manchester United were almost in for a perfect comeback against Sheffield United in the premier league,at half time they were two nil down they scored three goals and were jovial ,sheffield got a goal that made it a stalemate thwarting there hopes for victory.Such emotions is what VAR has brought in the game,but generally this is a wonderful feature in our football games as it makes the sport professional and error free .
The football body Fifa has been criticized by all and sundry perhaps for being the most corrupt sports entity in the universe .This has pitched them on the wrong side of the law especially former Vice President who pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and racketeering.This survey was done online to discern what perspective the masses have towards Fifa. There were a total of 60 respondents who responded to this question.Of the quorum 26.67% agreed that indeed Fifa is as corrupt as its officials 55% voiced that Fifa is not corrupt at all while the remaining 18.33% were neutral meaning they were not sure.The rot in football managing bodies across the world can be felt even right here at home with the push and pull between the Kenya Football Federation and the Football Kenya federation as to which is the legitimate body to govern local football in the country.Others like the Ghanaian football association have been accused of recieving bribes and fixing matches.
The Kenya Football federation is the body mandated by the government to manage football in Kenya.Over the time it has been accused of being corrupt especially with the enrollment of talents from Kenya to world class sports academies in Europe nevertheless they have also been accused of match fixing and colluding with betting firms to influence unduly the outcomes of football matches.Last year ,during the sweep clean of Fifa ,The Ghanaian football federation an organization similar to this one and of the same status in the country was accused of racketeering and match fixing ,Fifa has since banned the officials of the Ghanain Federation.In Kenya there were squables between the Kenya Football Federation and Football kenya over the rights of ownership of the Kenya Premier league.This poster invites all to attend this legal awareness to learn about the process of referee decision making and other laws that govern football in the country.
Sports interview on the effectiveness of VAR in EPL
This a conversation I had with Martin Moses a sports journalists with Multimedia University of Kenya and this is a transcribe of the whole interview concerning the effectiveness of VAR in English football.
Francis Okinyi:Martin Moses thank you for joining me in this interview on how VAR has impacted the game since its inception in The English Premier League and has had its conflicts of interest so could you talk on one of that.
Martin Moses:Personally I think that VAR is a timely addition in the English premier league and football in General and it is even used in other major leagues in the world have been using VAR but we have seen that there are contentious decisions but from the foregoing I think that the VAR is a good thing because it is striving to make the decisions on the pitch much better.
Francis Okinyi:Right now we know that VAR works on matters penalties ,the issuance of red cards that are inconsiderate and error prone.Technically it does much of the work that maybe the center referee might have been passed by .Others say that VAR makes football boring what is your verdict on that?
Martin Moses :Yeah ,at the moment it make football boring because if you remember when we used not to have it around in our leagues a referee would have made a decision and that would have gone like that.When the VAR looks into something on infringement so the VAR reviews the decision and makes the referee come back on that same issue.There is the issue of lapse of time and those interruptions makes wastage of time and there should be a method on how to make the game fast.That is lagging us behind the game should be fast ta ta ta and VAR is lagging us behind .
Francis Okinyi:so maybe comment on one of the most controversial matches one between Liverpool and Manchester City what is your verdict?Did VAR take a center role should the referee have consulted the VAR in some of his decisions?
Martin Moses:From my perspective from how i have been watching football yes VAR took a center role and was mistaken in one of the decisions the second penalty incident one that Manchester City was crying for that was a valid penalty and if you look at the rules of the game that is a penalty that is what am talking about .One incident there are giving a penalty and the other one they are not so there is no consistency on the use of VAR.
Francis Okinyi:Sawa sawa thank you for your time Martin Moses and do have a lovely time.
The Federation Internationale de football association is the world governing body of football.it is the highest governing body of football that is responsible for managing world football.Fifa was founded in 1904 to oversee international football competitions amongst nations states.the states include Germany france sweden and Denmark,The headquaters are found in Zurich Switzerland .Its membership now comprises of 211 football associations world wide .History aside one would ask themselves what does this big organization do ?in this article we will look at some of the functions of Fifa and what has been the milestone since its inception in 1904.The legality of fifa is created under the laws of Switzerland .Fifa’s supreme body is its congress an association that is made up of member countries.Each national association has one vote regardless of its size or football competence.The congress meets once in a year ,the congress makes decisions regarding the governance of football across those federations that are within the jurisdiction of fifa.The congress is also important in that it approves membership requests from other federations that would want to join fifa.The congress also elects the Executive committee. It elects the President Secretary General and other members of the Fifa Council.
The Video Assistant Referee popularly known as VAR came into use in the English Premier League in the 2019-2020 season.Its use had already been tested in the FA cup and the Carabao cup in each of the two last seasons.It had also been employed in both the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A it was also used in the 2018 world cup ,the worlds’ largest sporting event.so what is VAR? the Video Assistant Referee is the use of video technology to make more correct decisions in football matches.VAR only intervenes in the course of a match where the center referee has made an obvious error in one of these key four areas .
First and foremost when it comes to the allowing and disallowing of goals .The VAR is only consulted when a goal has been scored and errors like shirt pulling and any other misdemeanor which is resultant to the goal might make the goal be chalked off.It is worthy to note that clear and obvious errors do not relate to offside,The player is either offside or onside.There is no idea of a little bit offside or a little bit onside and this is allegoric with pregnancy where one cannot be a little bit pregnant but pregnant definitely.A player might be offside even with inches and this would result to the goal being disallowed this happened during Manchester City Vs West ham match.
The awarding of penalties is perhaps the most controversial decision that the VAR is mandated to perform.Penalties can be awarded or rescinded depending on the technicalities of the errors performed.In this case the center referee would run to the VAR monitor by the pitch and make a determination whether the penalty is lawful or not.
violent conduct and reckless tackles can be awarded for straight red cards by the VAR second yellow cards vests with the referees.
finally ,VAR also handles cases of mistaken identity where a wrong player is penalized and the guilty player allowed to go Scot-free.There is a famous incidence between Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in Arsenal’s 6-0 thrashing at Chelsea in 2015 such injustices could be repaired with this technology.The system is limited to only these four areas to avoid constant disruption of the game.
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