Still moaning about VAR?

There are going to be problems with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system this season. We just have to go with it now I suppose. The Cherries have already been the wrong side of it a few times, and even when Bournemouth did benefit against West Ham United with Josh King's goal it was such a long delay that the celebrations felt rather muted in the end at least for me.
Did you celebrate AFCB's goals without 
a flicker of a worry if it would be stuck off?I am one of those fans who want to jump up an shout whenever the Cherries score a goal. I can't hold the excitement back, it's impulsive and just a reaction to seeing my side achieve what they have been working so hard for. But getting used to seeing a goal scored and having to wait to see if at first VAR is going to check - and yes, it always does - and then waiting to see if we can celebrate, seems to take all the excitement out of the initial moment when one of our players scores.
I guess it is early days and perhaps VAR needs to be more entertaining in how it is seen in the ground. We need to get the replays on screen and build the tension and get some audio of what VAR is looking at. That's how they do it in cricket. The whole stadium knows when the umpire is looking at a certain view for a reason. Football is a participation sport for the fans as well as the players and the global TV audience. This is what the rule makers haven't really considered when they wanted to introduce VAR. It was handled very well during the World Cup, but I have to admit it's been a botch job in the Premier League.

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It's funny how the fans call for consistency with refereeing and that is what many thought we would get with VAR. It's not VAR that is really the problem though. It is doing what it was set up for, making calls black and white. It's the implementation of it and the interpretation of those rules - the human factor- which is causing most of the problems.

Through gritted teeth we have to see things through with VAR. I've kept away from it for as long as I can this season, but I'm not confident that AFCB won't have further reasons to be annoyed with VAR this season.

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Published on October 02, 2019 05:05
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Cherry Chimes

Peter Neil Bell
This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and ...more
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