Kelechi Iheanacho scored English football's first VAR goal last night
As you've probably seen, VAR (video assistant referee) technology is being trialled in the FA Cup this season. The idea is that if there's any uncertainty surrounding a decision, a game can be stopped and the incident referred to another official sat in front of a screen somewhere.
Last night, during Leicester's third round replay against Shrewsbury, we got to see how this works in practice.
Kelechi Iheanacho's goal was initially ruled offside, but after 70 seconds of discussion with a man on high via his earpiece, pitch ref Bobby Madley decided it should stand.
76' - Iheanacho goal disallowed ❌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 16, 2018
78' - VAR correctly gives goal ⚽️
1-0 VAR 📺
History made as Kelechi Iheanacho becomes the first player to be awarded a goal by VAR in British football! pic.twitter.com/KXsRbVdFou
So... What does everyone make of all this? It's inevitably the way things are going with the amount of money in the game nowadays, not to mention the level of influence from broadcasters who also provide the technology, but will it actually make us any happier? You obviously don't want to see you team robbed of points, but when that sort of controversy is taken out of the game so is the opportunity to scream about a referee's fondness for masturbation in unison with 30,000 other fans. It seems to me the arguments are half the fun, and we'll miss them when they're gone.
