Liverpool fans jostle for a look at the on-field VAR screen at Anfield stadiumAlex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images
If you have watched any football – or soccer – over the past few years, you will know that the game has been consumed by controversies over its new refereeing technology. The video assistant referee (VAR) system was introduced to the English Premier League in 2019 to reduce refereeing errors and get more decisions right. Instead, it has created new kinds of uncertainty and undermined our understanding of fundamental rules like offside and handball. It has also infuriated fans, who can often be heard chanting “it’s not football any more” after a long-winded VAR check.
It is fair to say that football fans like to get irate, especially when refereeing decisions go against their team. But as I argue in my new book, I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR, there’s more to this than meets the eye. As someone whose job involves developing new methods of measuring educational attainment, I have thought long and hard about the reasons why VAR has been so frustrating. I believe its problems relate to the challenge of pinning down objective reality, the difficulty of precise measurement and the human dislike of uncertainty.
What I have also come to realise, however, is that VAR exemplifies the limits of rationality in many walks of life far beyond the football field. As such, a brief exploration of the history of measurement more broadly – from attempts to pin down the boiling point of water in the 18th century to the struggle to accurately assess the…