By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
A proposal made to the English Premier League (EPL) Annual General Meeting to scrap VAR, which was introduced at the beginning of the 2019-2020 season, has been decisively defeated.
Only one vote was cast in favour of the proposal, namely, by the proposer Wolverhampton Wanderers FC; nineteen votes were cast against the proposal, thus securing its retention.
However, the EPL agreed that improvements need to be made to the system, including more transparency for the fans in the stadiums and speeding up VAR decisions.
The EPL confirmed that in-game VAR announcements will be put in place, and also that semi-automated offsides will be introduced in the autumn of this year, reducing decision delays by an average of 31 seconds.
VAR will be introduced into the Championship, the second tier of English football, next season.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘