Imagine you’re partaking in the act of procreation. Just as you are about to enter the gates of heaven, right at that moment, somebody storms into the room and screams: STOP.
From then on the person in question proceeds to tell you that the reason they rudely interrupted your coitus was because they wanted to check the position from all angles.
Once they've satisfied themselves that indeed you and yours are perfectly placed to let it fly, they shout PROCEED.
Instead of the mother of all big O's you are left to only settle for the aunt of all anticlimaxes.
Heck, that is exactly how this intruder into my football life, VAR, is making me feel.For the uninitiated, VAR is video assistant referee, the new phenomenon of the whistlemen who press the remote instead of blowing a whistle.
They sit somewhere in the stadium in a room full of TV monitors which they use to review a decision when the whistleman on the field finds himself swimming in a sea of doubt.
Yes, the television match official (TMO) or video referee exists in rugby.
Yes, cricket uses the Umpire Review Decision System to make a determination on controversial decisions. In any case in the gentlemen's game, guys and dolls garbed in all white are allowed to have a spot of tea with cucumber sandwiches, lunch and toss more tea later.
Yes, technology plays an essentially important role in arbitrating on controversial calls.
The stop-start is alright to give those man-mountain bodies a bit of a breather from the brutal bone-crunching rammings.But damn, it is an irritating interruption. Even the players are mocking it. Take Chile versus Cameroon at the Confederations Cup in Russia. Eduardo Vargas had a "goal" correctly ruled out for offside...