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Good morning. Virtual Assistant Referee. V.A.R. Three letters which have entered the language of football since its introduction to the Premier League in 2019, and which according to some cause consternation, confusion and sometimes, chaos. It was introduced to provide clarity over refereeing decision making. Many football fans and officials believe it does just that, and are in full support of the use of the technology. Some clubs, such as Wolverhampton Wanderers have demanded that it be scrapped. Other clubs have insisted that changes need to be made. In a game where fair play is vociferously policed, and where the decisions of the referee are both applauded and loudly denounced, surely a system where human error is taken out of the equation would be welcomed by all. One might think that I, a Christian with a belief in the omnipresent power of God, would also welcome the use of an impartial all-seeing eye, without bias, treating every decision equally. But I don’t. I value fairness, but I also value speed and spontaneous celebration over tedious deliberation. I value the thrill of messy, human uncertainty over dull, clinical accuracy. I believe in God, and because of this, I also believe the truth of human imperfection and that it is this which gives us our essence and what makes my favourite game human too. Christian belief in the human propensity to mess up, is called the doctrine of Original Sin. It’s a way to explain human imperfection, told through the story of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, after disobeying God’s rules. This story has been told through the centuries in ways which have been particularly unhelpful and damaging to women, so I understand the instinct to repudiate it, to reject anything which tells me that my newborn children, for example, were anything less than perfect. Life teaches us that no one is perfect, of course. And while we might be repelled by the claim that an innocent newborn is tarnished by sin, those of us with teenagers have long since come around to the idea. It’s one of the great tragedies of my life that I’m not actually perfect. I’ve tried so hard to be. My faith is freeing for me precisely because I understand that no amount of striving can make me be perfect, which also helps me to love other people and resist the urge to judge their imperfections. Because I’m human, I often fail at this. VAR doesn’t fail; it does exactly what it’s supposed to. It provides accurate and clear evidence. The problem is that it’s interpreted through a human filter, which means it can never promise to be perfect.