Football
VAR disappoints yet again with SEVEN minute decision in Bournemouth-Wolves FA Cup clash
Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews, while at Chesterfield he worked in a similar role but with the academy side, as well as some first team content. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in football as well as long form SEO content plus news, tips and betting but also produces content on basketball, baseball and American football.
Get to know Oliver Taliku betterPublished01 Mar 2025
On Saturday afternoon VAR was the main topic of discussion again at the Vitality Stadium, with Bournemouth having a goal ruled out after a seven minute check.
VAR makes headlines in Bournemouth vs Wolves
Bournemouth were already 1-0 up in their FA Cup clash when the controversial call was made just before half time, with Evanilson scoring on his first start since returning from a broken foot injury.
The Cherries thought that they had doubled their advantage just five minutes later, with Milos Kerkez and Dean Huijsen bundling a corner in at the back post.
VAR quickly intervened as the two players wheeled away in celebration, but that was the only quick part of the decision.
In the following seven minutes, VAR looked at the goal first for handball by Kerkez and then for an offside on the touchline by his Spanish teammate.
The call took so long to sort out that referee Sam Barrott was forced to gather the captains and both managers by the dugout to discuss why the decision was taking so long.
Fans could be heard chanting ‘It’s not football anymore’ and ‘this is embarrassing’ during the seven minute delay and it was eventually the home ers who were left disappointed.
✅Correct decision, after almost 8 minutes of review, by VAR in Bournemouth’s disallowed goal against Wolves.
📸Huijsen was offside at the moment of the touch by Kerkez.
⚠️Semi-Automated Offside didn’t work properly, meaning that VAR had to rely on the old lines system. pic.twitter.com/Y3JYqDM6jO
— Football Offsides (@FutOffsides) March 1, 2025
After one of the longest waits for VAR since its introduction, the goal was eventually disallowed with Huijsen judged to have interfered on the line from an offside position.
Fans’ frustration over the length of the decision were certainly justified considering automated offsides have been introduced, but they didn’t work when they were first needed.
The Cherries rightfully felt hard done by following a harsh decision and the fans continued to make their frustrations clear, especially after having a second goal disallowed just minutes later.
Bournemouth could have no complaints about the second finish being disallowed and Barrott didn’t even need to go to the monitor following a clear handball.
The Cherries had the last laugh in the FA Cup this year though, as Bournemouth advanced to the quarter final after penalties. See here for the full Bournemouth vs Wolves highlights.