VAR has become soccer’s worst nightmare to many. To pundits and fans, the sport has suffered greatly because of the misuse of the tool. In Major League Soccer it is very common for a referee to stop a match for minutes to check on a play in midfield. MLS is quite frankly one of the worst leagues in the world when it comes to VAR uses.
In Argentina, VAR is seldom used and when it is used it is used poorly. It would seem the best use of VAR is in the UEFA Champions League and Premier League. While the purest hate VAR because it slows the game down, the tool can even the playing field if properly implemented.
But what happens if you can’t afford VAR? Well, in the Serbian lower division a referee used a fan’s cell phone to review a play. The video has gone viral on social media.
Referee in Serbia uses fan’s cell phone to review play
In the video a fan calls the referee over and tells him to use his cell phone to review a play that could result in a disallowed goal. The referee takes the fan’s mobile phone and begins to review the play prior to the goal.
Upon review, which took about 1 minute the referee made the decision to disallow a goal, the team in blue reacted to the ‘right’ call in jubilation. Fans on social media had a laugh at the call with a user tweeting, “VAR on budget” and another “So even Sunday league Serbia is better than the EPL VAR!”