The whole audio recording from the VAR hub about the incorrectly disallowed goal scored by Luis Diaz during the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool last Saturday has been made public by the PGMOL, the organisation in charge of referees. Along with this action, they also disclosed the following details:
We admitted in a statement that a serious human error had happened during the aforementioned game, which we recognise should have led to a goal being given by VAR intervention, as was indicated immediately after the final whistle on Saturday night.
“The VAR crew scrutinised every facet of the goal, as they do in all goal scenarios. The checking phase and process began after the goal had been ruled offside by the on-field officials, and it was properly carried out by the VAR. The kick-point choice and placement of the single 2D line on the foot of the second-most rear defender were both precise.
Without the necessity for the addition of a second line, the picture produced demonstrated that Luis Diaz was unquestionably on the right side. The VAR accidentally confirmed the on-field judgement due to a momentary gap in focus and concentration. He miscommunicated “check complete” and lost sight of the on-field decision. He did this without exchanging words with the Assistant VAR (AVAR).
The game then instantly resumed. After a brief delay, the Replay Operator and then the AVAR questioned the check-complete result with the VAR and requested that he review the created image, pointing out that the original on-field decision had been offside but that this had never been made known to the on-field team throughout the game.
The VAR team then thought about stopping the game at that time, but they came to the conclusion that the VAR process inside the Laws of the Game would not allow that to happen, and they decided intervention was not possible as play had already resumed.
The audio between the match officials on the pitch and the VAR team is provided below.
“PGMOL has reviewed the events that produced this incorrect result, and the lessons learned will be applied to reduce the risk of errors occurring in the future.”
PGMOL additionally made the following declaration:
“PGMOL can confirm that a review of the events that led to the Luis Diaz goal being mistakenly disallowed for offside in the Premier League game between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Liverpool FC has been conducted.
“We acknowledge that standards fell short of expectations and Liverpool was informed of the mistake as soon as the game was over.
“A full report, outlining the most important lessons learned and immediate steps made, as well as the audio between the on-field officials and the VAR team, has been sent to the Premier League. The Premier League shared it with Liverpool FC first, and then with all other Premier League Clubs.
The following significant lessons have been discovered to reduce the probability of a future error as a result of the review of the on-field and VAR decision-making procedures and application of the decision-making principles:
– The importance of efficiency has always been underlined in Guidance to Video Match Officials, but never at the price of accuracy. This idea will be reiteratively stated: To improve the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team regarding on-field judgements, a new VAR Communication Protocol will be created.
– Before informing the on-field officials of the final decision, the VAR will confirm the results of the VAR check process with the AVAR as an additional step in the procedure.
“PGMOL is committed to improving the performance of VARs with a new training programme that began this season and focuses on procedure and best practise for all VARs, AVARs, and Replay Operators in their particular responsibilities. Even if we have a handful of FIFA-recognized VARs, effort is still being done to develop a specialised pool of VAR experts.
“The VAR and AVAR in question were excluded from their last Premier League Match Round 7 matches and were not included in the appointments for this coming weekend’s Match Round 8 games.
In order to let match officials to officiate matches outside of FIFA or UEFA appointments, PGMOL and The FA have also agreed to reconsider the rules.
Watch the VAR audio below:
Scandalous. Absolutely scandalous.
— Anfield Edition (@AnfieldEdition) October 3, 2023
