Left in the dark - will fans ever get to hear live VAR audio?

It was one of the most controversial VAR decisions in years, yet the 74,161 inside Old Trafford were kept in the dark. When referee Michael Oliver blew his whistle to award Erling Haaland's goal, few would have had any clue the real offside situation involved Enzo Fernandez. Viewers on television, however, were able to learn exactly what happened with the goal that gave Manchester City a 1-0 win . It is not just about the most contentious decisions, either. On Saturday, Crystal Palace defender Axel Disasi was sent off for serious foul play in the 3-2 loss to Ipswich Town . The Chelsea loanee stood on the side of the pitch for over a minute while the VAR checked the red card. And those at Selhurst Park remained in the dark. We're almost 10 years into the use of the video assistant referee, and still the match-going fan is treated like a second-class citizen. The television commentary team are in a unique position, able to hear what the VAR is saying but not the referee. The idea is they can pass on the context of VAR checks to the viewers, who are not permitted to make those judgements themselves. Will football ever get to a place where fans are trusted to hear what the video official is saying, just like other sports? Why the VAR audio is not played out live When Howard Webb took over as the Premier League referees' chief in 2022, he promised greater transparency and openness. Huge strides have been made on that front, and the Match Officials Mic'd Up VAR TV show was a trailblazer among the top European leagues. It was a logical move from Webb, considering his time as the boss of referees in Major League Soccer prior to his move back to England. In 2019, MLS became the first league to publicly share VAR audio after matches through a show called Inside VAR - effectively the pre-cursor to Match Officials Mic'd Up in the Premier League. Attempts to bring audio directly into live matches has proved unsuccessful. sources understands some leagues and the lawmakers can't find a consensus. Webb has been part of a working group set up to lobby to get the rules relaxed, to eventually enable the audio to be played live. But the Ifab, who are football's lawmakers, and in particular Fifa, are not close to being on board with fully pulling back the curtain. Discussions about changing the regulations regularly stall, with concerns about the quality of communications worldwide, added pressure on officials during reviews and that the credibility of referees could be affected. Part of the reason is that so many decisions are subjective and open to interpretation. It is possible for someone to disagree with almost any call that is made. In an interview three years ago, Lukus Brud, the Ifab secretary and chief executive, told sources that allowing the audio to be played live would be "chaotic" due to the number of people speaking. Webb is in a unique position as being the only referees' chief to experiment with live VAR broadcast. In August 2020, during the MLS is Back Tournament following the Covid shutdown, the league became the only competition to ever broadcast live VAR audio during matches. It was considered a success, but six years on from that short experiment there have been no further experiments anywhere. Rather than MLS providing a blueprint for the game to move forward, it proved nothing more that a footnote for VAR. Webb, of course, can also only go as fast as the Premier League wants to go because refereeing body Pro Ref does not make any unilateral decisions like this. What happens in other leagues? While the Premier League has been innovative in some ways, in others it has been overtaken by other major leagues. English football has innovated with RefCam with live audio this season, and publishing the transcript of the discussions between the VAR and the referee. And the league was one of the first to have its referees announce VAR decisions - a rare win for the match-going fan over those sat at home. But there has been limited progress with Match Officials Mic'd Up, which is still only monthly. Fortunately, the first edition this season airs on Tuesday, providing the perfect opportunity to play out the audio of the Fernandez offside decision. Yet other contentious incidents, like the Harry Maguire handball before Manchester United scored against Ipswich, or the failure to award a penalty to Arsenal at Aston Villa , happened weeks ago with no audio made available. This is where the Pr