Fans outraged by VAR being used midway through FA Cup match.

(NLĐO) - The decision to implement VAR from the 5th round of the FA Cup has angered many fans, who believe that the mid-season rule change creates unfairness.

Organizers have confirmed that all matches in the fifth round of the FA Cup this weekend will use VAR technology. However, the decision to introduce video assistant referees midway through the tournament has angered many fans.

The FA Cup introduced VAR from the fifth round onwards, and this has angered English football fans. Photo: Alamy

Prior to Round 5, this technology was not used in FA Cup matches, even when played at the stadiums of Premier League teams.

The reason VAR was previously "rejected" was due to the high cost of installing and operating the system at non-Premier League stadiums, and also because the organizers wanted to maintain consistency across stadiums.

However, from round 5 onwards, VAR will be applied to all matches, including those outside of England's top league.

When the BBC reported on this change, a wave of reactions from fans immediately erupted on social media.

One fan wrote on X: "VAR is completely useless. Throw it in the trash."

Another person expressed frustration: "It's disappointing that VAR is returning from the fifth round of the FA Cup. The absence of VAR would have made all the difference to this trophy and given the oldest competition its unique character."

Another opinion was that the mid-tournament implementation of the technology was unfair: "How could they introduce it in the middle of a tournament? Is that fair to the teams that were eliminated earlier? It's ridiculous."

Another fan sarcastically commented on the VAR system's performance: "There's no point in using VAR, because it's only as good as the people controlling it. And everyone knows that most of them aren't competent enough."

Some people were even frustrated by the prospect of the match being constantly interrupted: "It would be great if we could watch real football this weekend, instead of matches constantly being interrupted by VAR."

An unwelcome event for the fans occurred during Liverpool's 3-1 victory over Wolves on March 7th ( Hanoi time).

It was VAR technology that intervened and confirmed Mo Salah's goal in the 53rd minute, which extended the lead to 2-0. Before Salah scored against Wolves, the linesman had raised his flag indicating the Egyptian striker was offside.

VAR intervened, confirming Salah's goal in Liverpool's 3-1 win over Wolves on March 7th. (Image: Screenshot)

Liverpool are the first team to qualify for the FA Cup quarter-finals this season. Photo: SunSport

In addition to VAR, semi-automatic offside detection technology will also be applied to FA Cup matches this weekend, but only at Premier League venues.

The reason is that deploying this system requires installing up to 30 specialized cameras, which entails very high costs.

Goal-line technology will be used at Premier League and Championship stadiums. However, some matches at lower-league teams' stadiums will not have these systems due to infrastructure limitations.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/cdv-phan-no-vi-var-duoc-ap-dung-giua-chung-o-fa-cup-196260307062335311.htm