Jordan Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, whose book How Not To Be Wrong – the Hidden Maths of Everyday Life makes only one, oblique reference to football anywhere in its 18 chapters. Aleksander Ceferin, a former lawyer from Slovenia, is the president of Uefa, the sport’s European governing body. They do not, on the face of it, have a great deal in common, but given Ceferin’s suggestion this past week that VAR is, by and large, “a mess”, he might like to know that Ellenberg has an interesting argument as to why that might be the case.
Ceferin, who was interviewed by the Daily Mirror, was talking about VAR in general, but ultra-tight offside decisions in particular. “If you have a long nose,” he said, “you can be in an offside position these days. Also the lines are drawn by the VARs. So it’s a bit subjective drawing of objective criteria.”
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In an offside decision, there are often four moving objects, all heading in slightly, or completely, opposite directions
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