BY G. MADARAKA NYERERE
Amid the rivalry of the recently concluded FIFA Men’s World Cup, fans found rare unity in condemning the use of VAR to assist referees. Yet the criticism is misplaced. The tournament merely reminded us that technology is only as good as the people who design, operate and oversee it. It is neither good nor bad; its value depends on human wisdom, integrity and competence.
Most major technological breakthroughs can either benefit or harm humanity. Nuclear energy, for example, produces relatively low greenhouse gas emissions and can provide stable electricity, yet the same scientific principles underpinned the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 people by the end of 1945.
Likewise, drones that deliver medicines to remote communities have also become weapons of war in conflicts ranging from Ukraine to Gaza.
None of these technologies possesses any moral sense. They are merely tools. It is the human beings who design, deploy and control them who decide whether they save lives, improve lives or take them.
VAR has not exposed a failure of technology; it has exposed human weakness. President Donald Trump’s public condemnation of the red card shown to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, followed by his personal call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, projected the image of political power intruding into sport. FIFA’s subsequent decision to allow Balogun to play in the Round of 16 only deepened that perception. If a president’s phone call can influence football’s governing body, then the greatest threat to fair play is not faulty technology but powerful people who believe the rules should bend for them.
VAR attracts attention because everyone sees it. Many other beneficial technologies, however, operate unnoticed and come to our attention only by chance. When I first saw male footballers celebrating goals after removing their jerseys, revealing what looked like a brassiere, I assumed FIFA had no business imposing gendered garments on men. I later learnt that these were GPS performance trackers that monitor heart rate, hydration, workload and other metrics, enabling managers to develop winning strategies in real time. Managers can therefore make tactical decisions based on each player’s physical condition, substituting those whose performance is declining while retaining those who are performing at their best.
The lessons extend far beyond football. Despite its potential for misuse, technology must remain central to digital governance, tax collection, AI in education and other critical sectors. It has the power to amplify the strengths of institutions that embrace it while exposing and compounding the weaknesses of those that neglect it.
The greatest lesson from this World Cup is not that football needs less technology. It is that every technological advance ultimately depends on something no machine can manufacture: Human wisdom.
