17 April 2026; Roberto Lopes of Shamrock Rovers in action against Colm Whelan of Bohemians during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
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Championship clubs have set the VAR standard with their no vote
Video Assistant Referees can make mistakes too
Cathal Dervan, Editor
Another week and yet more VAR outrage at a venue near you and me. Take your choice of Tallaght Stadium, The Hill Dickinson Stadium, The Etihad Stadium - fields of dreams and fields of ire.
Tallaght rocked with the VAR debate on Friday night simply because VAR doesn’t exist in the League of Ireland and may well have had a thing or two to say about the penalty decisions if it did work here.
That Graham Burke and Colm Whelan both scored from the said penalties awarded sort of negated any potential call for VAR to be added to the cost of running our domestic League.
But that’s not the case in England where VAR is about as popular as Peter Mandelson right now.
Look at Everton who loudly celebrated their first Merseyside derby goal at their new stadium, scored or not as it happened by Ndiaye, then had those celebrations wiped out by the video referee in a game they went on to lose to Liverpool.
It was another side of the VAR story across the motorway in Manchester a little later on Sunday afternoon when Gabriel should probably have been sent-off for his headwork in his clash with Erling Haaland in the top of the Premier League clash but got away with it because VAR didn’t get the call to arms.
On and on it goes. Officially VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee. Unofficially it could stand for Very Angry Response maybe. Or Video Again Ruins (it). Or Video Assisting Ronaldo as suggested on Facebook.
Regardless of interpretations, what VAR has really done, since its inception in a Dutch Cup game 100 years ago this September believe it or not, is divide opinions and annoy people.
It’s Very Annoying Refereeing if you like - in games that utilise VAR and games that don’t.
Deep in the bowels of Tallaght Stadium late on Friday night, the Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley made his distaste for VAR very clear. It should, he suggested, have no place in football. Instead of making everything more black and white, said Bradley, it has created grey areas.
He went on to claim that VAR is killing the game by expanding the decision making process to include a fifth official in a far away room.
Bradley made a good point. A referee is human and can make a mistake - although the Hoops gaffer was adamant that both penalty decisions made by Rob Hennessy in Friday’s derby, one for each side as we’ve said, were correct.
What makes real sense here is his point that asking another human being to join the decision making process in the VAR room adds to the chance of another mistake.
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Referees, wherever they operate, are humans. And humans make mistakes as we saw at the Etihad when Gabriel should have been red carded for his headbutt even if it didn’t make contact with Haaland - who deserves credit for staying on his feet and not feigning injury by the way.
Arsenal without a suspended Gabriel for three of their five remaining Premier League games would be less of a threat to City and Haaland’s renewed title hopes.
But VAR agreed with the referee Anthony Taylor’s decision to book Gabriel and didn’t feel an error had been made by the match official so the colour of the card wasn’t questioned either.
In a week when another player was sent-off for a hair pull, Martinez of Manchester United against Leeds, that lack of real involvement in a game of such Premier League title magnitude seems even more ridiculous.
All of which, from Tallaght to Manchester, proves that VAR’s only real success has been to divide opinion.
In the old days, referees made mistakes but we all got to accept them and moan about them in real time. Now we have to wait - to celebrate goals or to bemoan VAR decisions.
Let’s go back to allowing referees to make mistakes in real time and getting on with it. Let’s follow the example set by the Championship clubs in England on Tuesday and vote to say no thanks to VAR. We just don’t need it - or the aggravation that comes with it.
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This week’s episode of Let’s Talk Football LOI - Cathal & Darryl talk through last week’s LOI action as well looking forward to the round ahead.
The key stories developing today
Promotion winning boss Brian Barry-Murphy has thanked the Cardiff City youngster for justifying his faith in them after he guided the Welsh club back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Cork native Barry-Murphy was aware of Cardiff’s young players from his time as Manchester City under 21s boss from 2021 to 2024 and says they were one of the reasons he took the job.
“I had been at Manchester City for three years, so I was aware of all of our best young talent, but I was also aware of all the young players of, say, born in 2002 right the way up to 2007-08,” Barry-Murphy told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.
“So I knew all of the best talent and I had a pretty strong idea that the players at Cardiff were as good as a lot of the best young talent in Europe.
“It just hadn’t been seen really. It was something that maybe everybody on the outside wouldn’t have been aware of, and if I could get that, combined with some senior pros who would really nurture them and help them overcome the inevitable obstacles that you’re facing in the course of a League One season, it would give us a great chance of winning.
“One of the big things that brought me to Cardiff was my belief that the young players that we’ve spoken so much about throughout the course of the season could play at the very highest level.
“So I fully intend to honour that and if that doesn’t work, or I’m wrong, then so be it, but clearly we’d have to improve the squad in certain areas, but always with quality over quantity.”
The tender for the redevelopment of Dalymount Park has been issued by the Government as progress continues at pace on a new 8,000 capacity home for Bohemians.
The Irish Examiner’s John Fallon reports that the estimated cost of the project has risen from €40million to €60million over the last 18 months with €34million of that total to be borrowed by Dublin City Council.
The report adds that Bohs will leave their home at the end of the current season with the full redevelopment expected to take four years in total but with a return to action there possible within two years.
Richmond Park, home to St Patrick’s Athletic, and the RDS are under consideration as temporary host venues by Bohs.
Grants, including €24.7m in the 2024 Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund, mean Bohs won’t have to raise any funds towards the cost of the work.
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany will put rest before reward this summer after confirming he has turned down work as a World Cup pundit in favour of a holiday and a break from football.
Several broadcasters including BBC and ITV had invited the former Manchester City captain to join their expert panels for the tournament in America.
But with newly crowned German champions Bayern still chasing Champions League glory, Kompany will take the opportunity to take a break in June.
Talksport radio’s website reports that, when asked if he would work at the World Cup, Kompany said: “No chance! What am I supposed to do, work as a TV pundit on holiday? Otherwise, I won’t have a family left in Munich next year! So, absolutely no chance!”
Carla Ward’s Ireland have jumped up to 23rd spot in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings thanks to their World Cup double over Poland.
The RTE website reports that the Girls In Green are up four places after a pair of qualifier wins against the Poles in Gdansk and then the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland, currently third in the League A Group 2 table, are now just one off their best rating of 22nd, achieved just before the 2023 World Cup.
Holland are next up for Ward’s side when they meet in Cork on June 5th before a trip to France four days later in their final group fixture.
The EFL Championship will proceed without any form of VAR next season after clubs voted against the introduction of a VAR challenge system for managers.
The proposal from English football’s refereeing governing body PGMO was first put to EFL clubs last month but has now been rejected by a majority vote according to the Sky Sports website.
Goal-line technology will be in operation in the Championship while VAR’s range of powers will be extended in the Premier League.
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