“WITH VAR,” THE PRESIDENT OF Spanish referees once asked, “what are we going to talk about after the game?” The comment was a flippant joke, but it belied a widely-held assumption about using technology to verify or overturn referees’ decisions in football. Some complained the precision would ruin the romance of the game. Others worried it might slow down matches. But most assumed it would reduce the controversy of debatable decisions made on matchdays.
As if. This season we have already seen goals chalked off because they were deemed offside by the narrowest
