I was talking to a friend over the weekend regarding Offside, and wondered what is stopping VAR from going semi-automatic and using the GPS trackers routinely built into Players shirts, to determine Offside?

you'd need a slight change to the Offside rule as it is now, as the trackers are often located between players shoulders. The only thing that will do is give the attacker a small advantage which people have been talking about anyway.
VAR Offside deisions should become quicker, as the VAR Official only has to identify the moment the ball was passed, and the system will automatically show the decision.

The only downside I can see it that as it's difficult to manually detect the offence, linesmen could only flag obvious offsides, and not be able to use the same 'lines'.

"It was a Team effort, I guess it took all players working together to lose this one"

It has been reported by various sources that the VAR system has increased the decision-making accuracy.

The question I would pose is : Has the introduction of VAR increased the excitement and entertainment value of the game ?
A whole host of people I have spoken to have answered in the negative and yearn for the days when VAR did not exist but of course it is here to stay, indeed it's tentacles will expand even further with increased technology.

If the concept of "Not re-referring" a game continues with further advances in technology, the referee will still be required to consult the pitchside monitor having been referred there by the VAR.

I suspect the stage will be reached whereby technology makes all the decisions and the Referee will just carry out what is relayed to him/her. "Point to the penalty spot" "Issue a red card" etc etc.

I was in conversation with a former professional who watched AFC Wimbledon v Ramsgate on the television last night and he commented that the absence of VAR was very refreshing.

Edited by Willo (05 Dec 2023 4.16pm)

Further very noticeable at AFCON the speed of VAR decisions.

The drawn-out theatricality of our system is not producing better decision-making, it is a time-consuming bore.

It is just horrendous!

We still get loads of mistakes and errors (The PGMOL are forever apologising to teams / managers) and there is simply no consistency whatsoever in the subjective stuff.

It is not used just for ‘clear and obvious’ - it basically re-examines EVERY goal and re-referees the game. It has also changed the officiating of matches in that referees are not making decisions when they should, instead they are just letting the game run on and waiting for VAR intervention.

I was at Accrington Stanley two weeks ago, working with their First Team Squad & U18’s. The topic of VAR was discussed and to a man every single player said they disliked it and wanted it gone. The coaches present were all of the same opinion.

Goal line technology should stay, the rest should just revert to the 3 on field officials.

As PL matches can be decided off-pitch, and actually the PL itself, you may as well not bother, as the actual football played is superfluous.