Dilemma And Development:Research On Application Of Video Assistant Referee System (VARs) Of Chinese Super League In 2020 Season

It has been over 3 years since the Video Assistant Referee System(VARs)was introduced in Chinese Super League(CSL).Conducting research on the development of VAR used in CSL in the recent 3 seasons can enable us not only to understand the actual level of application of VAR in CSL,but also to locate the elements which have been constraining its development and thus improve this technology to better serve the matches.At the same time,the influence of the conflicts caused by the referees’ actions during the matches is extending to the whole society and the relation among referees,teams,fans and associations is getting tighter in the process of the integration of football and the society,Therefore,the nature of the conflicts can be analyzed from the perspective of sociology.This paper takes the VAR related data of 160 CSL matches in season 2020 as subject of the research and adopts a mixed research methodology of documentation method,expert interviews,video analysis and so forth.After doing a thorough vertical comparison among the 3 seasons from 2018 to 2020 and a horizontal one between CSL and Bundesliga,the result shows:1.In total 160 CSL matches in season 2020,VAR was used 176 times with an average usage of 1.1 times per match and 80.8 seconds per time.Due to the tournament competition system,the usage of VAR in the second stage of CSL in season 2020 is evidently higher than that of the first stage;2.VAR in the 2020 season has improved the net game time,but the number of excessive intervention has significantly reduced the number of goals per game;3.In the 2020 season,the Chinese Super League has no substantial development in the use of VAR,showing dependence on foreign referees.By comparing with the German Bundesliga in using VAR,it is found that there is a significant gap in the application of data and corresponding supporting measures in the Chinese Super League in 2020 season;4.The introduction of VAR in the Chinese Super League has brought about a series of social controversies.The technology will be artificially disturbed in the process of development,which leads to the deviation of information transmission between "absolute justice" and "relative justice".The misjudgment,to some extent,causes the unbalanced function of sports safety valve and aggravates the social controversy.The lack of public credibility of referees is the reason for the frequent "offcourt recruitment"such as the"paper storm";5.VAR technology has its particularity in the scope of technology’s involvement in the field of adjudication.At present,there is a coexistence of "man" and "machine",and the function of linesman will gradually fade in the subsequent development.