VAR can be grateful for Matheus Cunha’s moment of madness, which shifted attention away from the offside controversy—one that saw officials take a staggering eight minutes to disallow Bournemouth’s goal.

You can just picture how fast the bosses at Stockley Park sent an intern rushing to the nearest Clinton’s to grab a thank-you card for Matheus Cunha.

Until the Wolves forward lost his cool in the final moments of extra time at the Vitality Stadium—throwing punches, kicks, and even a headbutt at Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez—the biggest talking point of this dramatic FA Cup clash had been the officials and what is thought to be the longest VAR check in English football history.

Only after Cunha was sent off and Luis Sinisterra sealed Bournemouth’s spot in the quarter-finals with the decisive penalty did match reports get rewritten and headlines reshuffled.

Before that, the focus was entirely on how VAR official Timothy Wood took nearly eight minutes to determine whether Milos Kerkez or Dean Huijsen had extended Bournemouth’s lead.

The goal itself seemed straightforward—David Brooks delivered a corner to the far post, and the ball found its way over the line after touches from both Bournemouth players.

Referee Sam Barrott initially awarded the goal… and then the long wait began.

After an agonizing delay, VAR ultimately ruled Kerkez offside, disallowing Bournemouth’s second goal. However, it was Matheus Cunha who stole the spotlight in the end, earning a straight red card for headbutting Kerkez.

Wood and his assistant VAR, Darren England, first reviewed potential handball offenses—first by Kerkez, then by Huijsen—eventually concluding the ball had come off Huijsen’s shoulder.

Then came the offside check, which dragged on for so long that players had to do drills just to stay warm.

What made the situation even more embarrassing was that it happened during the debut weekend of the new semi-automated offside system, a technology designed to speed up and simplify decisions.

Midway through the seemingly endless delay, referee Barrott gathered both captains and managers on the touchline to explain that the new system couldn’t be used. Instead, VAR had to fall back on the unreliable method of manually drawing lines.

PGMOL insisted the system wasn’t malfunctioning, attributing the delay to the complexity and tight margins of the decision. They pointed to a pre-match explainer that noted in cases with heavy congestion in the penalty area, officials might still need to use manual lines.

Technically, the system wasn’t broken—but it certainly didn’t work as intended.

To be fair, such situations are rare, and overall, semi-automated offsides should help speed up decisions and improve accuracy. The system has already proven effective in the Champions League, World Cup, and other competitions, representing a much-needed step forward.

However, instead of adopting FIFA and UEFA’s existing technology, the Premier League and PGMOL opted for their own version—one that relies on 30 iPhones mounted under stadium roofs to track players. After taking so long to develop, its introduction to the league has already been delayed this season.

For the system to fail on a crucial call just three games into its debut weekend was the worst possible start.

Frustrated fans from both sides made their feelings known, cycling through chants of “F** VAR,”* “You don’t know what you’re doing,” “This is embarrassing,” “What the f**ing hell is this?”* and, perhaps most cuttingly, “It’s not football anymore.”

As always with VAR, the biggest issue was the lack of transparency. No one inside the stadium had any clue what was happening.

The big screens briefly displayed messages like “Checking goal: possible offside” and “Checking goal: possible handball,” but that provided little clarity. When the decision was finally made, Barrott had to announce it over the stadium PA, stating simply: “Bournemouth’s number two was in an offside position.”

That wasn’t enough either.

The confusion was so widespread that even Wolves fans didn’t celebrate when Barrott announced Huijsen’s goal had been disallowed—an indication of how little faith anyone had in the process.

Even those of us in the press box, with access to replays, couldn’t say for certain what was happening. At one point, Kerkez’s father, seated just a row ahead, leaned over to ask if his son had the final touch and whether the goal would be ruled out for offside.

Howard Webb and his team deserve credit for introducing the Match Officials Mic’d Up show, which allows fans to hear VAR discussions after the fact. However, until football’s lawmakers, IFAB, approve real-time broadcasts inside stadiums—like in cricket or rugby—fans will continue to be left in the dark.