For the many thousands of people whose lives were profoundly impacted by what football pundit Gary Neville called “the biggest moment in VAR history”, I can only offer the observation that feelings of unfairness and outrage tend to be built on the fantasy that life should, on some level, be fair.

This may come as scant consolation to those who felt aggrieved by the video assistant referee’s (VAR) decision to disallow a last-minute equaliser for West Ham United in their game against Arsenal on Sunday, but, in this instance, football is a metaphor for life. The pursuit of absolute fairness, justice, and even truth, is indeed an illusion.

The chalking off of West Ham’s goal on video evidence – it took more than four minutes and 17 replays before the decision was made – is of serious consequence to supporters of West Ham (they are now likely to be relegated), Tottenham Hotspur (they probably will not), Arsenal (they are now likely to win the Premier League title) and Manchester City (they........

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