Ronald Waterreus knows for sure: football will be much more fun if VAR interferes much less in match situations. This is what the former goalkeeper, who was quite disturbed by the Dutch arbitration last weekend, proposes in his new column The Limburger.
‘I want to talk to you about two of the three penalties that were awarded during that match. One for PSV and one for Heracles, both as a result of an alleged handball,” writes Waterreus, who was present as an analyst at De Eretribune of ESPN.
‘Together with Marciano Vink and Kees Kwakman, among others. At the moments in question, all three of us drew the conclusion that almost any football player or former football player would have drawn. In other words: that these innocent game situations, in which a ball accidentally landed on a hand, should never lead to a pinball,’ continues the 55-year-old Waterreus, once a goalkeeper for PSV and Oranje, among others.
The VAR was created to ‘clear and obvious errors‘ to take out of the game. However, practice has turned out very differently, Waterreus concludes. ‘The aim of the men in front of the Zeister computer screens often seems to be to look for an obstruction somewhere, instead of eliminating blunders. In short, the VAR has overshot its target. Instead of being a pleasure, VAR has definitely become a burden.
‘I’m done. Yes, I am still a fan of VAR. Only: not to the extent to which it is currently being deployed. Please let us quickly move towards a situation in which ‘the VAR’ intervenes less frequently in the game and is manned by former professional football players,” Waterreus concludes his column.
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