Football in need of reform - starting with VAR, player play acting and dodgy offsides

The football season is reaching its climax. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City competing for the Premiership. West Ham and Spurs hoping to qualify for European football next season. West Ham, Arsenal and Manchester City still in the European competitions this season. So all to play for. There will be great excitement - highs and lows. But football seems to be in something of a transition period at present. The introduction of the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) was intended to improve decision making but seems to be failing in this quest. Not only are the decisions often plain wrong but the interruptions are destroying the flow of the game. At a recent West Ham game against Burnley, it took over five minutes to come up with a decision - then the wrong one in many people's opinions. It is now becoming an automatic reflex to hold back on celebrating a goal until the VAR check has been completed. It is taking the passion out of the game. VAR needs radical reform or maybe scrapping altogether. Another element of the game that needs addressing is the play acting. Players feigning injury to get an advantage in the game. It would be interesting to know if this second rate amateur dramatics is all part of the coaching of young players these days. It really does look pathetic, when players go down, apparently in agony, then get caught by the TV camera looking to see if they've got away with it. Without wishing to go down memory lane, 20 or 30 years ago, players would be embarrassed to have behaved in such a way. Offside is another part of the game in need of reform. The offside rules, almost need a high court judge to adjudicate. The football authorities do try. The penalising of time wasting has been a great innovation, largely eliminating another negative element of the game. It also has to be said that the women's game is a breath of fresh air, not suffering from many of the irritations previously cited. So let's hope as this season reaches it's climax, that things don't get spoiled by bad refereeing or gamesmanship. Then the football authorities need to look at things like VAR, the offside rule. players amateur dramatics and much else to ensure football continues to progress in the future.