Matt Maher: Football is a simple game complicated by auditors
Simplicity has always been one of football’s biggest appeals.
From the first time you watch a match, it doesn’t take too long to work out what’s going on.
You can use your feet or head to move the ball but not your opponent. The aim is to get it between those white sticks at the end of the field. The team that does it most, wins the game and gets three points. They share one each if it’s a draw.
For most of the sport’s existence, the most complicated thing for newcomers to understand was the offside rule. Even that didn’t take too much explaining.
Just lately, however, things have been getting a whole lot more complicated.
The introduction of VAR, which was always going to cause a reinterpretation of the rule book once incidents could be refereed in slow- motion replay, hasn’t helped.
Worse, lack of effective explanation regularly leaves supporters who pay good money to attend matches completely in the dark as to why certain decisions are made. There are probably still Villa fans who went to December’s 1-1 draw with Sheffield United who still have no clue as to why Leon Bailey’s “opening” goal was chalked off.
