Chasing VAR out of Scotland

[HibsFan]

A post that I missed last month from @VincentGuerin in the second iteration of a 'VAR in Scottish football' thread on here has got me thinking about the entirely ineffectual 'fan backlash' to VAR in Scotland to date:

Spoiler

On 20/02/2024 at 09:20, VincentGuerin said:

This thread is depressing. Nothing to do with actual VAR, which anyone with half a functioning brain predicted would be terrible, is terrible, and always will be terrible.

More the fucking streak of pish Negative Nancies on here givng it "oooh, it's shite but there's nothing we can do".

Get a fucking grip of yourselves and get your fingers out your arses, you spineless c***s. Err, with respect.

If you're on here moaning about VAR, then why don't you do one of the following:

1) Write to/email your club's SLO and board of directors. If Motherwell, for example, start receiving dozens of these letters, it becomes an issue they need to address. If you moan about it on P&B, f**k all will happen. Explain your reservations about VAR clearly and respectfully, ask if the club has considered the view on the impact on paying fans in the stadium, remind your club how much of their income is from paying fans, and ask if they have any plans to consult with fans on how VAR is going, and if not, why not. At least hint that you're considering attending fewer games and your ST renewal is in doubt. That gets the c***s' attention. I have done this. Disgracefully, I received no response from either my SLO or the board of directors at my fan-owned club. They'll be getting another letter soon. Why the f**k not? Bombard the c***s.

2) Loads of c***s on here listen to Sportsound every week. We know that from all the fucking moaning about it. Some c**t fucking phone them and, again, respectfully and clearly, explain that the Sportsound panel and SFA shills they have on there are not paying supporters. Explain your experiences and objections, again, hint that you're considering going to fewer games, and raise the issue of why there has never been any meaningful consultation on the issue with the fucking mugs paying £30 a go to watch this pish. I am at a game most weeks, so this is tricky for me. But I have made a solemn vow to some mates that I'm going to do this. I'll be on kidding on to support someone else (if I get on) so none of you c***s will know it's me. It doesn't sound like much, but the VAR converation in the media has moved past "should we have it?" and we need to bring it back to that point. Phone them, you lazy c***s. Same goes for any of our brain-dead contributors, but obviously, you can call Super Scoreboard. Every little helps. Move the conversation to where we want it to be. If they're getting these calls every week, it becomes an issue.

3) Write to the paper. Papers are dying and they'll literally print any old shite. They probably make up half the letters they print (or get some unpaid intern to write them), so they'll be delighted to get a real one. Write out a letter outlining your objection, and send it to all the papers. Someone will print it. If they start getting loads of these, they'll run with them. And if they become a theme, some opportunistic hack will take up the cause as they're all dying for attention and relevance. My letter is nearly finished and will be going to all of Scotland's publications in the next two weeks, I think. Write a letter, you lazy b*****d.

So, all you fucking surrender-monkeys on here giving it the "oooh, poor old us, what can we do?", put up or shut up. VAR is shite, but it's up to us to do what we can to try and get what we want. At the moment, the conversation around "should we have VAR?" is off the table, and that's on the supporters. We've let that happen. The first step in getting rid of it is getting that question asked again.

I'm serious. If you're reading this and want rid of VAR, then do one, two, or all three of the things I've suggested and we might fucking get somewhere. If you don't, then you're right; f**k all will happen.

Stop fucking moaning and do something, you c***s. Respectfully.

Viva la revolucion.

Now, to make a few things crystal clear before getting into this.

This thread...

• does not aim to discuss any past or future VAR decisions in Scottish football, there are other threads for this
• does not seek to argue that one club has been wronged more than others, point-scoring etc is a waste of time
• makes the case that there is no acceptable form of VAR, again there are other threads for you to discuss VAR Lite etc.
• is not pretending that fans in Scotland are completely united against VAR; it is talking to those who are already against it
• has an already extremely limited chance of success, made even slimmer if it descends into debating about VAR itself
• looks to take inspiration from examples such as the Swedish top flight as proof that we can have a VAR-less league in Scotland

What I would like to focus on in is the point raised in the quoted post above.

There are plenty of Scottish football fans - not least of all on here - talking the talk about VAR, but who is actually prepared to walk the walk?

Personally, the three or four ideas that V.G. proposed in that post are incredibly feasible and realistic suggestions:

1. Write to your club and imply that you are a dissatisfied customer who wonders how much longer you can spend money on football with VAR
2. Write to your club and - at a minimum - express your disappointment and ask when they will be holding consultations with fans about VAR
3. Call up / text in radio programmes and discuss the issue of VAR on a public platform, get the issues fans have with VAR heard by a wider audience
4. Write to newspapers and outline why fans are sick of VAR and what you would like to see happen next

Even if each anti-VAR poster on here committed to doing just one of these, it would have the potential to make the stakeholders of Scottish football at least sit up and take notice of supporters again.

So, to get a response to this, I've set up a poll detailing some (or all) of the actions anti-VAR people on here would be prepared to take to help lead a fightback against the idea that VAR is here to stay in Scotland.

Since being seen to care about things and trying to make your voice heard often gets sneered at in the UK, I've even made the poll anonymous. Lucky you.

Anyway, to stop this being too long an opening post, I'll end it here and add another post below where I get into answering the 'well that's all well and good, but what have you done, mate?' question that will inevitably be coming my way.

[HibsFan]

So yes, my story with taking action against VAR is pretty much entirely concentrated to 2022, when it was being floated, voted on and eventually implemented.

Sent this email* to Hibs in April of that year and got nothing back at first. A snippet of the closing paragraphs below:

*not posting the whole thing as a lot of it was just moaning at the club.

Note on my boycott threat: due to personal circumstances I actually haven't been able to attend a game anyway since writing that email, so I've followed through on withholding my money from Hibs even if it hasn't been done purely on moral grounds. 

After VAR was introduced in October 2022, I went back to the email and realised that I had forgotten to include the SLO's email address and re-sent it (with some additional comments). To paraphrase, the SLO's reply was along the lines of:

• We were the last major league in Europe to introduce it so we could avoid some of the teething errors ()
• Correct decision-making will help Scottish football to move forward and align us with counterparts in other countries
• There will still always be incidents, VAR can't resolve everything
• VAR in Scotland wouldn't have been stopped if Hibs fans had been consulted
• However I've passed on your feedback about supporters being consulted on issues such as this going forwards

Anyway, I didn't bother replying and the post from V.G. jogged my memory that I had actually done it in the first place.

Since then, I have mainly resorted to despairing and/or sniping from the sidelines. Is it petty? Definitely. Is it pleasing feeling entirely fucking vindicated by what I wrote in April 2022? Also yes. For people saying "oh how could we have seen what VAR would bring?", here's what I and many others were saying before the clubs had even voted:

But V.G.'s post was exactly the shot in the arm I needed to remember what (admittedly little) I can do to try and turn the tide back in the favour of Scottish football fans who are sick and tired of VAR. I know that I am not alone in feeling like this, social media and forums such as this are awash with punters who would happily see the whole thing binned off.

So, inspired by the above, I will be taking at least three of those four steps - currently being out of the country limits my chances of being able to call in to Sportsound any time soon - and I would implore others to do the same.

The one thing I refuse to accept is that this is the status quo and there's no point complaining about it, we might as well get used to it. There are countless examples of the exact opposite of that sentiment being true, and if we can't overturn VAR completely we can at least make people in charge of it feel a lot less comfortable and smug about their pet project of sacrificing football fans on the altar of 'getting decisions correct'.

Again, this thread is not for debating the merits of VAR. It's not for discussing any past, recent or future decisions made by VAR. It's not for suggesting alternatives to VAR. It's not for pondering whether it's the referees at fault rather than the technology.

It's not for anybody other than those who feel the same as I do and want to discuss how we can take action, whatever your club may be. Three of the posters I agree with most on this issue (@VincentGuerin, @Dons_1988 and @AJF) support three of the four clubs I like the least in Scotland; it goes beyond any rivalries you may have.

I know that there are people all across Scotland who just want to get back to attending a version of football that felt vaguely exciting and enjoyable.

[Sortmeout]

VAR is shite but I’m too lazy to do anything about it.

[naegoodinthedark]

Just now, Sortmeout said:

VAR is shite but I’m too lazy to do anything about it.

This gets my vote. 

[RawB93]

I'm gonna put on an iron shirt

And chase VAR out of Earth

[velo army]

Anyone thinking that their email or activism on this issue (however small) won't make an impact need only look at the NRA in America. Their membership is pretty small (less than 1% of the population is a member) but their activity is constant. They attend meetings, they have orchestrated e-mail campaigns, but mostly they just do what the OP is suggesting and are fairly relelentless. The "pester factor" is a real phenomenon. Letters to newspapers (especially if we all wrote letters to the Daily Record, for instance, rather than various different ones) would  give the impression of a groundswell of opinion against it. That's all that's required to get the conversation going. An impression of a backlash. It would hopefully get the Sportscene or Viaplay goons talking about it more critically.

Sending an email takes a few minutes and it doesn't have to be something overly fancy. 

I'll email the Jags today. We're actually seeing our games affected by VAR in the upper league. Referees are taking more time to make decisions. Against Dunfermline we had one of those nonsense offsides where he waited until Graham had rolled the ball in before flagging instead of flagging immediately for Milne. In other words we've taken the decision for something to be implemented which certainly won't directly benefit us but which has absolutely made things a bit worse for us.

 

[Derry Alli]

Dependant on how outraged I can twist a poster on this site today by 3pm, I may indulge in all.

[BullyWeeClydeFc]

I strongly agree with anyone suggesting to move VAR out the game. As a loyal Clyde fan I don’t have to ever experience it, but the frustration I have at the TV watching a higher level game pause every 2 mins just for a free kick is frustrating. It takes the fun out of the game, that feeling of scoring a last minute winner and going crazy is lost now as they have to wait for official reviews.

[Richey Edwards]

The only solution is to take up arms IMO.

[Bogbrush1903]

A group of the most radical P&B anti-VARites could head into the Highlands and live off the land as they gather support among the peasantry.

Here they can then win minor skirmishes with Doncasterians and begin to move towards the beak HQ in Glasgow growing massive beards in the process.

As they go, the radicals and peasantry are joined with the more mainstream anti-VARites (like the Clyde supporter above) and they can then enter Glasgow in Toyota pick ups to streets lined with cheering crowds as those promoting VAR are hung, drawn and quartered and their remains left on public show.

The anti-VARites then usher in their own traditionalist leader, Commandante Bob Valentine.

[velo army]

28 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

The only solution is to take up arms IMO.

So long as those arms are not in an unnatural position.

[Lyle Lanley]

29 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

The only solution is to take up arms IMO.

Or heavy sack beatings. 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

2 hours ago, velo army said:

Anyone thinking that their email or activism on this issue (however small) won't make an impact need only look at the NRA in America. Their membership is pretty small (less than 1% of the population is a member) but their activity is constant. They attend meetings, they have orchestrated e-mail campaigns, but mostly they just do what the OP is suggesting and are fairly relelentless. The "pester factor" is a real phenomenon. Letters to newspapers (especially if we all wrote letters to the Daily Record, for instance, rather than various different ones) would  give the impression of a groundswell of opinion against it. That's all that's required to get the conversation going. An impression of a backlash. It would hopefully get the Sportscene or Viaplay goons talking about it more critically.

Sending an email takes a few minutes and it doesn't have to be something overly fancy. 

I'll email the Jags today. We're actually seeing our games affected by VAR in the upper league. Referees are taking more time to make decisions. Against Dunfermline we had one of those nonsense offsides where he waited until Graham had rolled the ball in before flagging instead of flagging immediately for Milne. In other words we've taken the decision for something to be implemented which certainly won't directly benefit us but which has absolutely made things a bit worse for us.

 

 

Yep.

I know we're unlikely to go up but there's an uncomfortable thought if/when we get promoted to the top tier that I'm not going to bother my arse for a season ticket, and its pretty much solely due to VAR being a complete shitshow.

edit: would also suggest that Rangers going into the 3rd tier was largely off the back of fans of 99% of clubs pointing out that if their club were liquidated there wouldn't be any clamour to get them back in at as high a level as palatable. If enough season ticket holders, even say 10% of regulars make genuine threats to withhold money then clubs do listen, because its i) very hard to replace that income and ii) once gone its hard to encourage them all to come back.

Another edit - that's broadly going to be the best way to do it. Get enough names together across clubs, get them all to email the club when it comes to season ticket renewals that they're unwilling to fork out £300+ to go and watch games with any sort of VAR system.

If they decide they'd rather cater to broadcasters/us being a pretendy tinpot English Premier League/referees humming and hawwing about not being able to referee UEFA or FIFA games, so be it.

Edited March 17 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Busta Nut]

This is why the government were able to f**k us out our pensions. Nation of people who just accept things.

[pozbaird]

Where’s the option to vote ‘I’ll moan like fcuk about VAR on the Pie & Bovril fitba’ forum’?

[Dons_1988]

I will happily contact my club (again) about this. I won’t threaten boycotting unless I mean it (not there yet) but I absolutely am willing to withdraw the free money I give them every month.

Tbh I would do that about the broader direction of football in general, of which VAR is a symptom of, rather than a specific complaint about VAR. I feel very strongly about all of that (which possibly comes through in my grumpiness on certain threads). 

Not sure I could go on sportsound and keep my cool. I could already see them trying to drag the conversation into specific decisions and try and paint my views as a football fan moaning about referees. Sportsound absolutely love VAR as it means they don’t have to attempt to know things about Diddy teams. 

[KingswellsRed]

won’t be renewing my season ticket and aberDNA donations unless I see my club publicly calling for the end of VAR. it is having too much impact on my enjoyment of attending the football.

[Sortmeout]

Hibs fans probably shouldn’t worry too much about VAR as it’s the top flight only and by the law of averages Hibs will be due a year or two in the Championship again soon. The ultimate yo-yo club. 

[Sortmeout]

26 minutes ago, KingswellsRed said:

won’t be renewing my season ticket and aberDNA donations unless I see my club publicly calling for the end of VAR. it is having too much impact on my enjoyment of attending the football.

You renewed last season though when Aberdeen were doing well though didn’t you?

 

Convenient excuse for some people.

[Dons_1988]

2 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

You renewed last season though when Aberdeen were doing well though didn’t you?

 

Convenient excuse for some people.

What a presumptuous shit post