Premier League official Bobby Madley admits he ‘hates’ VAR

Referee Bobby Madley has openly expressed his hatred for the use of VAR, arguing that it strips football of its emotional core.

Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival recently, Madley, who currently officiates in the English Football League and also acts as a fourth official in Premier League fixtures, shared his views from both a referee’s and a fan’s perspective.

“As a fan, hate it, hate it. Love the Championship, love League One – I’m still a fan,” Madley said.

“I love League One because you score a goal, you look at the referee, you look at the assistant, he hasn’t put his flag up, it’s a goal.

“It [VAR] takes that emotion away from it and football is a game where there could be one moment in the game, one goal, and that’s it.

“To take that emotion away, to have to wait and wait, and what feels like an eternity, as a fan I’m not a huge fan of that experience.”

Unlike the Premier League, where VAR has been a fixture since the 2019-20 season, the EFL does not implement the technology in regular league play, something Madley clearly appreciates as both an official and a supporter.

Madley’s officiating history includes 91 Premier League matches between 2013 and 2018, before he was dismissed by the PGMOL after a controversial incident involving a video mocking a disabled individual.

Referee Bobby Madley says he “hates” VAR because it takes the “emotion away” from the game.

“To take that emotion away, to have to wait what feels like an eternity, as a fan I’m not a huge fan of that experience.” pic.twitter.com/1KrMIZwr3q

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 5, 2025

He then moved to Norway and officiated in the lower leagues before making his return to English football in 2020.

Although he was given brief opportunities to return to the Premier League – overseeing one match in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons – he was not selected to referee any top-flight games in the 2024-25 campaign.

Madley also reflected on the wider implications of VAR’s introduction and how commercial pressures in football may have contributed to its adoption.

“There’s so much money in football, it’s business-driven. So any mistake is perceived to cost people money,” he added.

“And I don’t think most football fans were clambering over each other to get video technology.

“The players weren’t, the referees weren’t, but the people who run football, they are multimillion-pound and billion-pound people, and they had issues with referees getting things wrong.

“I think we’ve got to the stage where people go, ‘Sorry, we’re ruining football with this now’.

“But we knew the monster that had been created. As referees, we knew what was coming.”