R90-million sports technology boost for South Africa

The Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture has set aside R90 million to procure Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology for top-tier football in South Africa.

This is according to sports, arts, and culture minister Gayton McKenzie, who responded to a Parliamentary Q&A from Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana.

The minister said it is envisaged that this budget will also be used to acquire goal-line technology.

VAR has been implemented in over 50 leagues worldwide, and other African countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Tanzania, and Morocco, are already using it.

McKenzie first mentioned the need to bring the technology to South Africa in a social media post at the end of 2024, stating that “all football fans know that the time for VAR in SA football has arrived.”

Upon making this announcement, McKenzie shared some potential costs following consultations with other football unions that have implemented VAR.

He said using the technology could cost as much as R70,000 per match, also requiring a once-off sum of up to R80 million, and money to train referees.

In April, the minister announced that, according to FIFA regulations, the South African Football Association (Safa) must implement it.

A few days later, Safa issued a tender for service providers to bid for the supply of VAR equipment, preparation of VAR training programmes, and training of video and match officials.

McKenzie noted that Safa received “about a dozen proposals” when the bidding window closed on 21 April.

Regarding the tender’s progress, the minister said Safa was assembling a proposal evaluation committee, which should begin evaluating bids in early June.

In the meantime, McKenzie has consulted with several other football bodies implementing VAR, such as LaLiga, the Spanish premier division.

“We concluded an extremely successful meeting with Javier Tebas, the chairman of LaLiga,” McKenzie said on X in April.

“We agreed on assistance in training aspirant referees in VAR technology and sharing with us the best practices of La Liga’s school soccer program.”

The minister said in a more recent social media post that arrangements have been made to train referees and that testing has been done.

Questions about VAR

While it is designed to maintain a higher standard of officiating in matches and is used in cases of potential goal-scoring opportunities and red cards, VAR has been a source of controversy.

One point of criticism is how the technology affects the emotions experienced by fans, with a goal often being allowed or disallowed by a referee, only for the decision to be overturned by VAR.

This was one of the considerations when the International Football Association Board (IFAB) decided to begin VAR testing in 2016.

“The initial testing will deliberately have a limited focus to minimise the impact of the flow and emotions which are crucial to football,” said IFAB technical director David Elleray.

Following testing in leagues worldwide, such as the Australian A-League and the Dutch Eredivisie, VAR was approved for use in early 2018.

This allowed the technology to be used at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where it was called upon 335 times in the competition’s group stage — seven times per match.

VAR then underwent testing in the English Premier League the following season, with clubs unanimously voting to fully implement it in the 2019/20 season.

Data released by the Premier League shows that the rate of correct refereeing decisions has improved from 82% to 96%.

“VAR is, and remains, a very effective tool in supporting the match officials on the pitch,” Premier League Chief Football Officer Tony Sholes told Sky Sports in 2024.

He noted that the Premier League had only identified 20 VAR mistakes across the 2023/24 season, 17 of which were due to the video referees failing to intervene when they should have.

However, despite VAR allowing for more rigid match officiating, a survey of 33,243 English and Welsh football fans revealed that nearly all found the sport to have become less enjoyable.

This included both those who experienced VAR in-stadium, 95%, and those who watched it on television, 94%.

The primary reason for this loss of joy was the “removal of spontaneous celebrations,” and the impact caused by delays.

Of the 33,000 people surveyed, only 26% said they supported the use of VAR. However, 97% supported goal-line technology, which determines whether the entire ball has crossed the goal line.

Norway came very close to scrapping VAR after 19 of the 32 clubs in its first and second tiers, the only leagues to use it, voted to have the technology removed.

However, this was overturned in March after 329 of the 450 clubs part of the Norwegian Football Association voted in favour of VAR usage.