Fans Plan Widespread VAR Protests

[AJStyles]

Fan groups across German football clubs are coordinating widespread protests against VAR technology timed to coincide with the first round of the German Cup this weekend. A joint statement shared by supporters, titled roughly as VAR is robbing us of the joy of football, argues the technology has destroyed the spontaneous emotional moment that used to follow a goal, replacing it with uncertainty about a possible review instead.

The genuinely ironic part of the timing is that VAR is not even being used in the German Cup's first round at all, for technical and financial reasons given that 64 teams are involved including plenty of lower league sides that simply cannot accommodate the system. It is only from the second round onward that VAR gets introduced for the season, which means fans are protesting the technology's overall existence rather than protesting its actual use in this specific weekend's matches.

The statement itself argues that football thrives on intensity and rhythm, and that the flow of the game suffers significantly from the kind of protracted interruptions VAR reviews regularly cause. Fan groups behind similar past protests, including the memorable tennis ball and chocolate coin pitch invasions from the 2023 to 24 season, have made clear they see this as a continuation of an ongoing multi year campaign rather than a one off statement.

This follows years of genuine frustration with VAR across German football specifically, including a since viral incident earlier this year where a masked fan actually infiltrated a Bundesliga 2 stadium and physically unplugged the VAR monitor during a live match, forcing officials to make a difficult call remotely without ever being able to view the replay themselves.

Whatever form this weekend's protests actually take, it is another sign that the anti VAR sentiment among German supporters has not faded at all since the technology's rocky introduction several years back

VAR protest planned as fans rebel against 'robbing the joy of football'www.mirror.co.uk