Should football go beyond the VAR technology? Speakers in the ears of creative midfielders?

“American football is much more technologically advanced than football. The quarterback has an earpiece to hear his coach. We absolutely need that. Football must stop hiding behind tradition and revolutionize itself.”

That was former RB Leipzig manager, Julian Nagelsmann, suggesting football needs to modernize itself; earlier on in the 2021/22 season when he took over giants, Bayern Munich.

Often in football, it is seen that managers consistently call players over to the touchline to give an instruction or two. In other scenarios, players are substituted into games with a piece of paper containing instructions, and coaches like Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel, never stop the theatrical screaming.

And the remarkable story between Jose Mourinho and Marcel Schmelzer during a Real Madrid and Dortmund UCL game will never get old.  

“While I was ready to play a throw-in, I was surprised by Mourinho next to me, talking to me seriously as if he was giving me instructions. ‘Go to Ozil and tell him he must go forward in the middle faster!’ he said approaching my ear.

“I looked at him in amazement and didn’t respond to him, but after I entered the stadium and arrived next to Ozil, I told him what he said involuntarily. What surprised me most was that Ozil nodded to his coach that he knew the instructions as if it was normal!” the former German international recounted.

The craziness and theatrics showcased by managers on the sidelines are to support communication with their players on the field – in often very much overcrowded stadia. And these in-game instructions have more than a few times gone on to change games.

Football has already taken a technological shift, with the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) – not without its problems, however, and as the global world continues to expand and modernize, should Nagelsmann’s suggestion ever be taken into consideration? Before drawing a conclusion, it is important to understand the genesis of the use of headphones in American football – just for readers unaware.

How did it begin in American football?

Backtrack to 1956 – just a year short of Ghana’s independence, American football was about to be hit with innovation by the legendary football coach, Paul Brown, and two inventors; John Campbell and George Salares.

Collaboration between the three will introduce a communication system between a coach and QB, in football. Three games after its trial, it will be banned on grounds of unfair advantage, but 38 years later, football will rekindle its relationship with the communication device.

Technology was coming to play a big part in the sport and to date, football coaches like Bill Belichick and Andy Reid, are seen on the sidelines with big headsets around their ears. American Football stadiums can get to a maximum capacity of 105,121 so it’s more than a decent technology to have.

Meanwhile, Football can also move up to 200,000 spectators; so is it possible to see legendary heads like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, and Carlo Ancelotti wearing headphones to communicate?

In Real Madrid’s run to winning the 2021/22 Champions League, social media was caught up in Ancelotti’s ‘voodoo’ eyebrows. But is there a chance managers will stop relying on unorthodox means to communicate? Does football really need to bring on board the NFL’s technology?

Football fans are having none of that

“No it shouldn’t be adopted, it should stay far away from football. This will literally turn footballers into robots being controlled on the pitch by the coach to take each and every decision and every decision for them. The player should make some on-field decisions for himself. Moreover, it can be very confusing since the coach what the coach sometimes is communicating to him can be in conflict with the on-field decision that he wants to make.” Stephen, a football fan in Ghana said.

Kofi Larbi, another Ghanaian football enthusiast did not hold a divergent opinion: “It’s a nice idea frankly, but to some extent I don’t really think I’d want it in the game because what at all does a coach want to tell his players and can’t shout? What Nagelsmann forgot is the dynamics of American soccer differ from football. Football does not have set plays as American soccer does. An American soccer coach can just say ‘wide 80’ and that alone will change what the quarterback is going to do, the particular play he’s going to run and it’s unlike football. I do not think football teams have playbooks like American soccer teams do. If a coach says something he doesn’t want the opponent to understand, he should use a code word or something.“

These views encapsulate not only the views of a majority of fans in Ghana but also across the world. Fans might argue and disagree on which club is the biggest, the Messi-Ronaldo debate, and what have you, but Nagelssman’s comments showcased a united front almost like never before.

Fans want the NFL technology far away from football as possible but before drawing a conclusion on if football should probably adopt it, it will be fair to understand how it has improved the American sport.

What do the stats say?

According to sports analytics outlet SI, points per game on offense increased from 44.5 to 46.9 while the league’s average passer improved from 92.3 to 104.1, when the technology was introduced to the CFL – the Canadian version of the NFL.

Chris Ackotia, an NFL fan based in Accra, Ghana, also views the communication technology as an integral part of the sport.

“Communication devices are basically a necessity in the NFL – the QB is effectively the coach’s voice on the field, executing various adjustments and play calls being ordered from the sideline. The same thing applies defensively too, the communication line between the defensive captain and the head coach (or defensive coordinator), depending on the coaching setup provides the players with guidance on which defensive coverages to employ against their opponents.”

A FIFA specialist doesn’t see room for it

But is it really applicable in association football? Abdul-Faisal Chibsah, a FIFA high-performance specialist and head of recruitment at Charlotte FC academy does not see room for the inclusion of technology in the capacity of player headsets and communication.

“I think technology can be applied to football in some extent to improve the game – when it comes to decision making in certain areas. But I really think in the case of applying headsets and communication equipment from coaches to players, I don’t think that it is advisable, I don’t think that helps grow the game of football.”

Abdul-Faisal’s argument is premised on the fact that creativity and dynamism are critical to its ‘entertainment’, one which will be severed should managers be made to interfere through direct communication.

“The reason why we love football is the creativity side of it where players would have to make decisions on their own and solve problems on their own based on the perception and collecting information from the game, and coming up with solutions. I think that’s why we love the best players because they can solve problems on their own and if it happens that you have coaches on the sidelines joy sticking or providing information during the game, I don’t think that helps the beauty.”

It is a stance Ackotia doesn’t wholly accept though, indicating the NFL’s intentionality to make sure games are won by players’ skill and whatnot, rather than a coach’s bellering.

“No, it doesn’t inhibit the creativity of the players. The communication system is designed to cut off when the play clock hits the 15-second mark, ensuring that the players are ultimately the ones making their own decisions when the ball is snapped. In certain cases, veteran/trusted QBs are actually encouraged by their coaches to call audibles depending on their read of the defense.”

Despite believing the technology will not work in football, Abdul-Faisal suggests it could be adopted in certain moments of games that are not ‘live’ situations.

“It may work when it comes to set plays because they can be rehearsed and are very static. They are not dynamic just like we see when the game is on. It could be implemented because with that you can directly train that from the training grounds to the game so maybe during set-plays, I can see that happen where coaches will instruct players as to what to do.”

Conclusions

It may look like all football fanatics are up against another technological advancement and quite genuinely, it does not seem like FIFA are even considering it. High up their agenda looks like adopting technology which will improve decision-making in the game on both the referees’ and players’ level.

Read Next:

• 5 reasons to be excited about the future of technology
• FIFA says Yes to Ghana Football Association(GFA) VAR project team