A major talking point of the 2018 World Cup is the Video Assistant Referee which was implemented for the first time in World Cup history.

After so many years of deliberations and experiments at some major competitions including the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, FIFA finally agreed to use the technology at the World’s biggest sporting event.

The technology, which gives referees another chance to see incidents that are unsure of or misses in the cause of a game, saw the tournament record the highest penalty decisions in World Cup history.

Its impact at the World Cup was profound, but like every technology, it has its uniqueness as well as its flaws. The implementation of the VAR divides opinion among players, fans, coaches and everyone with an attachment to the game.

Moroccan forward Nordin Amrabat whose side got knocked out by a VAR decision described it as b*******t and former English forward Gary Lineker described one of its decisions as “ridiculous”.

FIFA is however convinced VAR has been a revolution in world football and impacted positively on the game.

FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General, Zvonimir Boban, who oversaw the whole VAR project at the World Cup had this to say after the tournament.

“As said by the FIFA President, VAR is not changing football, it is cleaning football, and this was our overriding aim when we started the VAR project together with The IFAB. The extensive preparation, both before and during the tournament, coordinated and guided by the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina and FIFA’s Director of Refereeing, Massimo Busacca, has produced outstanding results and I am proud to have been part of this team.”

But somewhere in Africa the Video Assistant Referee has metamorphosed to “Voodoo Assistant Referee”.

A video circulating on social media platforms shows a referee consulting a fetish priest after blasting his whistle for a penalty in what looks like a Colts football match.

The fetish priest after performing some incantations confirmed the referee’s earlier decision.