WHAT a shame that after the first round of the new A-League season, the headlines were all about VAR.

To be honest I don’t get the outrage.

Football seems to have a chip on its shoulder in this country. I’ve played overseas in football countries, where people live and breathe football, and they don’t carry on like this. Maybe it’s a result of the two-year boardroom warfare, but that’s gone now.

People need to move on and start being positive about the game.

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Keisuke Honda lived up to the hype in his A-League debut. Source: AFP

VAR DECISIONS ‘COULD BE BROADCAST’ IN GAME-CHANGING PROPOSAL

There was some fantastic football and some tense football, from the opening match between Adelaide United and Sydney FC, to the spectacle that was the Melbourne derby.

There were over 40,000 people at Marvel Stadium, Keisuke Honda was the outstanding player of the game as he lived up to expectations and some great football was played in Sunday’s triple-header.

That’s what the story should have been. Crowds were up and everything was there for a positive Monday.

But what did we get instead? A catastrophic, disastrous Monday with everything centred around the VAR.

To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement. There were six decisions that involved the VAR in the opening round and, in my opinion, only one got it wrong and that was Kurt Ams in the Melbourne derby.

It was the biggest game of the weekend, so Ben Wilson should be asked why a referee with only 20-games of experience was given the responsibility.

Bruno Fornaroli was awarded a dubious penalty. Source: Getty Images

Why did this happen? There are three full-time referees and Kurt isn’t one of them.

His decision to award a penalty to Bruno Fornaroli was a howler and he wasn’t able, under pressure, to realise this. Instead he stuck with his original decision. There’s no doubt Melbourne Victory were hard done by.

But every other VAR decision over the weekend, in my opinion, was correct to the letter of the law.

Crowds were up in the opening round. Source: AAP

So, with so many positive stories around, I just don’t get why this was the biggest story.

It’s something that needs to stop in this country, this negativity about anything that happens in our game. It’s getting beyond a joke.

We focus on the one VAR decision that got it wrong — and it was wrong, without a doubt — but only our game could turn a successful weekend into what seems like a disaster.

People in this country need to understand this: there’s no exit strategy for the VAR, there’s no suspension — the VAR is here and it’s here to stay. So get over it and get used to it.

The game has evolved. I’m a fan of the technology and while I respect people who aren’t, it doesn’t really matter — it’s here to stay and people need to stop being so bloody negative about it.

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