Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: A roller coaster of emotions

Whether it’s VAR, Race referee or UEFA’s Champions League draw, you can’t take away human error – remember that the emotion of sport is what makes it so compulsive!

It was a weekend where the scrutiny of match officials, VAR and race directors was right in the centre of the spotlight. I understand the desire for fairness and that the correct decision is made in all circumstances, but VAR was brought into football to stop the endless arguments about the “wrong decisions” made by referees and their assistants, but has it?

On Saturday Manchester City played a Premier League game against Wolves and the game was settled by one penalty kick. The award was given in the second half when a cross was stopped by a defender, who had his arm raised high in the air and from where I was sat, in the stadium, it was a clear-cut penalty.

During the first half I hardly noticed City’s other penalty appeal, probably because I was on the other half of the half way line. The ball appeared to be guided away from trouble by a defender’s shoulder, so it seemed innocuous. Later in the evening I watched the two decisions more forensically on Match of the Day, from a multitude of angles and with the aid of slow motion. I concluded, on reflection, that the first should have been a penalty and the one given shouldn’t, but even with cameras it was a subjective decision. VAR got it wrong, in my opinion.

I also looked at some of the other crucial penalties that were and weren’t awarded on Saturday, in other games. Some looked right, some looked wrong.

On Sunday afternoon I sat down for the Formula One title decider between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. I wasn’t emotionally invested in either of the drivers but I was gripped by the drama.

On the first lap, of this title deciding race, there was an incident where Hamilton had to leave the track to avoid a collision, but came back on well ahead. The race stewards studied the incident while the race continued and concluded that Hamilton had done nothing wrong and that he didn’t need to give the place back to Verstappen. With just a few laps to go, and with Hamilton comfortably in the lead, an unrelated crash resulted in more controversy. I’m not going to try to explain what happened, but the key bit is that the race director made decisions on how the race was to resume, based on video evidence.

Verstappen had the luck of being right behind Hamilton on fresh tyres when the race resumed with one lap remaining. He won. As I watched the drama unfold I couldn’t help remembering the drama of Sergio Aguero’s last minute title decider in 2012. It was the drama, not the incident, that felt the same. If you’re a Hamilton fan it must have been how United felt, emotionally, back in 2012, but if you’re a Verstappen fan you knew how City fans felt.

The parallel ends with the emotion. The sports are very different. I’ve seen many claiming that the F1 title was unfair, rigged or cheated. Who knows? Within hours there was an appeal that questioned the referee’s decision. I’m not commenting on the rights and wrongs of the outcome but what is for sure is that the emotion of an exciting climax suddenly disappeared.

On Monday City were paired with Villareal and United with PSG in the Champions League. I bet Reds fans had mixed feelings about facing Messi and co and as a Blue I was looking forward to a possible trip to Spain in February, then suddenly, despite the technology, UEFA announced the draw had gone wrong, due to human error. The draw was redone in the afternoon with City facing Sporting Lisbon and United taking on Atletico Madrid. Our emotions were played with again.

No matter how much technology is used things will never be perfect, but I’d rather enjoy the emotions, good or bad, win or lose, instantly, than never knowing whether a goal stands, who’s won the race and who my team has drawn in the Champions League. Let's not lose the instant emotion. For all it’s faults, as long as it’s honest, it’s why we love sport!