VAR Is So Bad The Premier League Has Called On Airline Pilots To Teach Officials How To Communicate Under Pressure

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The video assistant referee (VAR) has been controversial since it was first introduced in the Premier League ahead of the 2019-20 season. The one and only point of VAR is to not miss or allow any incorrect calls, but that hasn't been the reality, especially as of late.

So far this season there have been two occasions that have been incorrectly officiated, but one was so beyond egregious that even non-soccer fans have likely seen the blunder.

During the Sept. 30 meeting between Liverpool and Tottenham, Liverpool's Luis Diaz scored in the 34th minute. The offside flag immediately went up and while the sequence was reviewed by VAR, communication failed the VAR crew, to put it lightly.

Diaz was clearly onside.

Humans make mistakes, even when they're dealing with incredibly in-tune technology, but egregious errors like the Diaz disallowed goal are unacceptable. Tottenham went on to win the match 2-1.

While the VAR crew did get the call correct, it wasn't properly communicated among the group or the referee on the pitch so the league recently called on airline pilots to teach referees how to communicate in high-pressure situations.

Pilots have to make split-second decisions - and ones far more important than a player being offsides or not - so it's a wise move from the Premier League, but undoubtedly a bit embarrassing for one of the richest and most-watched sports leagues on Earth.

"Two British Airways pilots, Chris Heaven and Pete Nataraj, gave a 45-minute presentation to the Select Group 1 officials -- the 20 referees and 30 assistant referees who take charge of most Premier League matches -- which also covered staying calm in challenging situations," according to ESPN.

All in all, there have been 13 occasions in which VAR has failed to correct a mistake in a Premier League match since the 2019-20 campaign. Wolves and Brighton & Hove Albion have taken the worst of the errors with each club having three errors affecting their matches.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.