VAR official's expletive-ridden reaction to Liverpool mistake in released audio
Darren England – the VAR official at the heart of a growing refereeing scandal – reacted with dejected swearing after realising his blunder in ruling out Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool against Tottenham.
Diaz was clearly onside after latching onto Mohamed Salah’s pass, but his finish was incorrectly ruled out by VAR for offside. The correct process was followed by VAR England, his assistant Daniel Cook and the replay operator, but the wrong decision was then communicated to referee Simon Hooper, who confirmed the incorrect on-field decision of offside.
Liverpool went on to lose the game 2-1 and reacted with utter fury at the shocking mistake. Refereeing body the PGMOL have now released the audio of the incident, which shows England’s helplessness after his mistake was pointed out by his colleagues. This is how the conversation developed.
Replay operator : “Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this?”
Assistant VAR : “That’s wrong, Daz.”
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Replay operator : “The on-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yeah, it’s onside. The image that we gave them was onside.
Assistant VAR : “He’s played him [onside]. He’s gone offside.”
VAR : “Oh ****!”
After more back and forth between the colleagues, England states that he cannot stop the game and overturn the incorrect decision.
He says: “They’ve restarted the game. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. ****!”
PGMOL said in a statement: "PGMOL can confirm that we have carried out a review into the circumstances which led to the Luis Diaz goal being incorrectly disallowed for offside in the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Liverpool FC.
Darren England – the VAR official at the heart of a growing refereeing scandal – reacted with dejected swearing"We recognise standards fell short of expectations and acknowledged the error to Liverpool immediately after the conclusion of the fixture. A detailed report, including the key learnings and immediate actions taken, alongside the audio between the on-field officials and VAR team has been submitted to the Premier League, who have shared it with Liverpool FC and subsequently all other Premier League Clubs.
"The review of the on-field and VAR decision-making processes and application of the decision-making principles has identified the following key learnings to mitigate against the risk of a future error:
- Guidance to Video Match Officials has always emphasised the need for efficiency, but never at the expense of accuracy. This principle will be clearly reiterated
- A new VAR Communication Protocol will be developed to enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions
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- As an additional step to the process, the VAR will confirm the outcome of the VAR check process with the AVAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials
"PGMOL are committed to enhancing VAR performance through a new training programme which started this season and focuses on process and best practice for all VARs, AVARs and Replay Operators in their specific roles. While we have a number of FIFA-recognised VARs, work is ongoing to create a dedicated pool of VAR specialists.
"The VAR and AVAR in question were removed from their remaining fixtures in Match Round 7 in the Premier League and have not been included in the appointments for Match Round 8 this weekend. PGMOL and The FA have also agreed to review the policy to allow match officials to officiate matches outside of FIFA or UEFA appointments."
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