Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record-smashing 147 break was quicker than it took VAR to check for an AS Roma offside.
In the first round of the 1997 World Championship, the Essex-born snooker player cleared the table in five minutes and eight seconds – the fastest time ever to be recorded. But the amount of time it took for O’Sullivan, 46, to earn the 147 was quicker than it took a referee to work out a VAR decision.
In November of last year, a for a check a possible offside for Tammy Abraham when Roma faced off against Torino took five minutes and 20 seconds, some 12 seconds longer.
When Alessandro Buongiorno brought down Stephan El Shaarawy in the box with a poor tackle at the Stadio Olimpico, the home side were awarded a penalty. But VAR checked a possible offside in the build-up, meaning Abraham was stood over the penalty stop for over five minutes.
It took so long that the former Chelsea striker started to juggle the ball to keep himself warmed up as he waited on the final decision. Meanwhile, Roma boss Jose Mourinho became increasingly incensed on the touchline.
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The Portuguese manager has been a strong critic of VAR. When he was Tottenham manager in 2020 he argued that the system was ‘killing the game’ when Son Heung-min was sent off against Chelsea.
He said: “This is England, the Premier League, the best competition in the world, with characteristics that if we change them we are killing the best league in the world.
“Paul Tierney decides yes and Anthony Taylor, in real time, five metres from the situation, decided no [red card]. So who was refereeing the game? Not Mr Taylor. It was Mr Tierney.
“VAR was supposed to support football, to bring truth to the spectacle. They did that with the penalty decision and they killed the game with Son’s decision.”
This post appeared first on Daily Star – Snooker.
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