Thierry Henry: “VAR kills the joy of the game”
The former Arsenal forward has not been impressed by VAR.
Thierry Henry believes the time taken to reach decisions using VAR is killing the “joy” of football.
The World Cup winner says he had no problems with the technology but is frustrated by how football compares to the speed of other sports when making a vital decision.
“In football, we’re still behind, we have so much to learn,” the former Arsenal forward told the Leaders Week sport business conference in London.
“What I can see in American football, in rugby, in cricket or whatever it is, tennis, it’s instant.”
Killing goal celebrations
The 45-year-old is currently the assistant coach of the Belgian national team.
“With VAR, what I get annoyed with is it’s not quick enough. Then it’s still the decision of someone in a truck or wherever they are, because it’s not VAR that makes the decision, VAR is just there to recall the situation,” he added.
Henry said the uncertainty surrounding VAR was also having an impact on celebrations.
“What we want to see is the game going on,” he said. “Another thing that’s very difficult for me is I used to score goals as a player. Sometimes you don’t even know if you need to jump.
“Am I jumping? Am I celebrating? Am I not celebrating? It kills the beat of the joy of the game.”