Scotland's VAR operators should perhaps be paid more money – Scotsman comment

There are a number of jobs that people can be reluctant to admit to having.

Announcing at a party that you are a banker may not quite have the same frisson as shortly after the 2008 financial crash but, in the minds of some at least, the tarnished reputation still lingers.

Nurses and doctors may also think twice about revealing their profession for fear of spending several hours in a corner politely dispensing advice to someone with an abiding interest in their own haemorrhoids and a lack of situational awareness.

And now Scotland is about to have another job that it may be wise to keep schtum about: the video assistant referee’s “football replay operator”.

VAR, as it is known, might be an improvement to the quality of decisions in matches, but it has also created a whole new source of controversy.

It’s fair to say that football fans are noted for their strong opinions about the rights and wrongs of refereeing decisions, even if their passionate arguments almost always, coincidentally of course, align with their team’s interest.

So admitting you work in the VOR (video operations room) as a football replay operator (presumably soon to be known as an FRO) might not be sensible in a fairly large number of pubs in Scotland.

The choice of camera angle can be crucial to a VAR decision (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Will the starting salary of £22,280 a year, with a bonus of up to ten per cent, be enough to endure such social death? Given the nobility of their calling – helping to clean up the beautiful game – we salute anyone who is up to the task and wish them the best of luck. They may need it.

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