Has football’s fight for freedom begun?

The Video Assistant Referee revolution has begun.

Not in a boardroom, not at a FIFA meeting, and certainly not during one of those television debates where three former referees and a presenter with unsettling teeth patiently explain why the thing that everyone hates is actually very good for them.

No, this one began exactly where this type of rebellion should... in a lower league football ground full of fans fed up with video feeds ruining their enjoyment.

The incident took place during the Bundesliga 2 clash between Preussen Münster and Hertha Berlin. After a contentious incident in the box, the referee was asked to go take a look at the pitchside monitor.

But before he could get there a masked man ran onto the pitch and unplugged it, leaving the ref to stare at a blank screen.

It was a small gesture but highly symbolic, and it became even more so when moments later supporters in the crowd unfurled a banner reading: “Pull the plug on VAR”.

You have to admire the clarity of the message, even though the sabotage did not quite achieve its desired outcome – VAR still intervened from its hidden bunker and the penalty was awarded anyway, which slightly spoiled the coup.

But that is not really the point.

The point is that somewhere, deep within football’s collective soul, something has finally snapped.

VAR was meant to make football fairer. All it is doing is killing it

For the past few years we have all been living under the slightly surreal rule of a technology that was supposed to fix obvious mistakes and instead seems to have turned the entire sport into an extended geometry lesson.

We have watched goals celebrated, then paused, then celebrated again, then cancelled entirely because a player’s elbow was pointing a millimetre too far north. We have seen referees standing beside television screens while stadiums fall into a collective coma of boredom.

VAR was meant to make football fairer. All it is doing is killing it.

So fair play to the masked saboteur. Every revolution needs its opening act. The Boston Tea Party had tea chucked into the harbour. The French Revolution had a stormed prison. Football’s uprising has begun with a power cable being yanked out of the ground.

Small beginnings, but who knows where it might lead?

Perhaps next week a hooded rebel in Italy will daringly hide the remote control. The following week a group of La Liga revolutionaries may wheel the entire VAR monitor away like a stolen supermarket trolley.

Before long, the campaign could spread to England.

A mysterious overnight raid on Stockley Park could see the officials arrive in the morning to discover that every single monitor has been surgically removed.

Then, in an unusual turn of events, the pitchside monitor at Old Trafford could be replaced with an Etch-A-Sketch, forcing the ref to draw the offside lines in himself.

While at Anfield the live link could be hacked so all the match officials can see on the screen is a looping video of Bill Shankly saying: “Football is a simple game, complicated by people who should know better.”

Eventually the authorities could be forced to admit defeat.

And when the day finally comes that VAR is nothing more than a smouldering pile of broken monitors on a rubbish tip somewhere outside Zürich, that incident in Münster will be remembered as the moment that led to our Independence Day.

Romance vs finance

Over the last week there has been plenty of discussion about the FA Cup and whether the lower-ranked team should always be given the home draw when facing a bigger club.

Romantically speaking, it’s a wonderful idea.

The FA Cup at its best is played on pitches that resemble failed agricultural experiments, in stadiums where the advertising boards are held up by hope, and the crowd is close enough to whisper tactical advice into the full-back’s ear.

So, if you are going to have giant killings, you might as well have them in the giant’s least comfortable surroundings.

Other countries already do something similar. In Germany and Spain the lower-league side is generally given home advantage against higher-ranked opposition.

It sounds perfect.

Unfortunately, the reality in England is a little more complicated and, as per usual, it all comes down to money.

Since FA Cup replays were scrapped, the opportunity for smaller clubs to cash in on lucrative rematches at Premier League stadiums has disappeared, which means getting drawn away to the big boys is all they have left.

Apparently, Mansfield Town’s recent home tie with Arsenal likely generated gate receipts of around £160,000. Once running costs and the FA’s 10 per cent were deducted, the balance would have been evenly split between the clubs, meaning each side walked away with roughly £70,000.

But had that match been played at the Emirates, receipts could have reached around £2.1 million.

After costs and deductions, each club might reasonably have earned somewhere between £800,000 and £900,000.

For a lower-league side that kind of money is transformative.

So yes, the romantic version of the FA Cup would see the underdog playing at home. The problem is that since replays were scrapped, forcing the smaller club to host every time would also remove the single biggest financial windfall they might ever receive.

It’s a lovely idea. Just not a realistic one.

More chances to fail

The Football League has announced that as from the 2026-27 season the Championship play-offs will expand from four teams to six.

This is, I suppose, excellent news for anyone who enjoys watching dramatic sporting heartbreak.

Which makes it particularly good news for Sheffield United supporters, who have already watched their team manage the extraordinary feat of failing in 10 out of 10 previous play-off campaigns.

From next season the Blades will have even more opportunities to continue this proud tradition. Failure 11, here we come.

Football gets the full Brazilian treatment

Further proof now that Brazilian football continues to approach the sport with a refreshing lack of moderation and a spectacular overdose of zest.

Last week’s Campeonato Mineiro final saw Cruzeiro beat Atlético Mineiro 1-0 in Belo Horizonte. The match itself had been relatively straightforward until the dying seconds.

Then deep into stoppage time two opponents collided, which in most parts of the footballing world would result in a free kick, a bit of shouting and perhaps some theatrical rolling around.

Here things move in a slightly different direction, with one player rugby-tackling the other to the ground, planting a knee on his chest and shouting at him in a manner that strongly suggested diplomacy was no longer on the table.

At which point all hell broke loose.

Other players rushed in to defend their teammates, and within seconds the pitch had descended into a full-scale melee involving players, substitutes and assorted bystanders who simply fancied a bit of a rumble.

Security staff ran on. Military police followed shortly afterwards. Somewhere in the middle of it all the referee stood wondering why he hadn’t become a plumber.

When the dust finally settled the final disciplinary tally came to 23 red cards.

European football occasionally gives us a minor scuffle involving a couple of players pushing each other and pretending to be outraged. Brazil, by contrast, delivers a full-scale riot.

And we think we are overly passionate...

 

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