The VAR audio from Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal for Liverpool at Tottenham has been released by the PGMOL, revealing the replay operator was the only person to immediately spot the mistake and urge the officials to stop the game.
Diaz was flagged offside after scoring but replays showed he was actually onside.
But Darren England, the VAR, mistakenly believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal, leading him to tell Simon Hooper, the referee, that the check was complete.
The VAR drew the lines on the incident and VAR said “check complete” thinking the on-field decision was a goal
The VAR said he could not intervene after the mistake as the game had restarted
Once England and the assistant VAR Dan Cook were alerted to their mistake by the replay operator when the goal wasn’t awarded, they repeatedly said they could not intervene as the game had restarted.
“Can’t do anything,” said England as the replay operator asked for the game to be stopped.
In an increasingly-frantic exchange, the unnamed replay operator says: “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside”.
It’s understood that the ‘Oli’ referred to is Oli Kohout, the VAR Hub Operations executive.
Audio from fourth official Michael Oliver is not included in the clip.
As the replay operator continues to try to stop the game, England states “can’t do anything” five more times before Cook agrees by adding: “They’ve restarted”.
No further communication with on-field referee Hooper is included. Sky Sports has reported that Hooper was first informed of the error at half-time.
In a statement to accompany the release of the audio, the PGMOL have accepted “standards fell short of expectations” and confirmed a “detailed report, including the key learnings and immediate actions taken, has been submitted to the Premier League, who have shared it with Liverpool FC and subsequently all other Premier League clubs.”
According to the PGMOL, those key learnings include:
- 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
- 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
Read the full transcript here
This is the transcript of what was said between the officials. The on-field referee does not hear all of the audio from the VAR room – only those comments directed to him.
Assistant referee 1: Waiting. Delaying, delaying.
VAR: Possible offside, Diaz.
Assistant referee 1: Coming back for the offside, mate.
VAR: Just checking the offside, Delay, delay.
VAR: Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point, please?
Referee: Yeah no worries, mate.
Replay operator: So here we are.
Referee: Wait.
Replay operator: Just get a tight angle.
VAR: Yeah, give me a 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that.
Replay operator: So frame two there?
VAR: That’s fine.
VAR: Perfect, yeah.
VAR: 2D line on the left boot.
Replay operator: Let me just switch angles.
VAR: Romero, I think it is?
Replay operator: I think it might be this angle [that is] better? Happy with this angle?
VAR: Yep.
Replay operator: 2D line on the boot?
VAR: 2D line on the left boot.
Replay operator: Yeah, okay.
Replay operator: So, 2D line on the boot.
VAR: And stop.
VAR: Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect.
Assistant referee 1: Playing.
Referee: Cheers, mate.
VAR: Thank you, mate.
Referee: Well done, boys. Good process.
Replay operator: Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside.
Replay operator: Are you happy with this?
Assistant VAR: Yeah.
Replay operator: Are you happy with this?
Assistant VAR: Offside, goal, yeah.
Assistant VAR: That’s wrong that, Daz.
VAR: What?
Replay operator: On-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yeah, it’s onside, The image that we gave them is onside.
Assistant VAR: The left-back he’s played him, he’s gone offside.
VAR: Oh [expletive].
Replay operator: Delay, delay.
Replay operator: Oli’s [PGMOL Hub Ops] saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.
VAR: Pardon?
Replay operator: Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.
VAR: Can’t do anything.
Replay operator: Oli’s saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.
VAR: Oli?
Fourth official: Yeah?
Replay operator: Delay the game, delay the game. Stop the game.
VAR: They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.
VAR: Can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: No.
VAR: I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. *Expletive*.
