THE expletive filled audio of the VAR gaffe behind Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal has been released.
Liverpool star Diaz was wrongly deemed to be offside by officials when scoring a goal against Tottenham, only for VAR to not intervene and reward it.
After Liverpool called for clarity on why the decision was made, the refereeing body have now made the audio available to the public.
The footage reveals VAR officials Darren England and assistant Dan Cook drew the lines showing that Diaz was onside.
The indication was then given by the officials that the check was complete, with on-field referee Simon Hooper heard saying: “Well done boys good process.”
However, the officials then realised play had resumed without the correct call being made on field after the replay operator queried the decision.
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Upon being asked again by the replay operator about the outcome of the decision, the VAR team then became aware the incorrect call had been made.
Assistant video referee Cook then backs this up by saying: “That’s wrong Daz”.
Upon realising the error, England be heard saying: “Oh ****.”
The replay operator can be heard requesting to delay the game, but since it had already resumed there was no way to pull it back.
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England can be heard saying: “I can’t do anything”, before swearing once again.
The aftermath of the gaffe saw both England and Cook stood down from their VAR duties for next weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures.
PGMOL described the call as a “significant human error” in their apology after the match.
However, PGMOL released an explanation of the decision alongside the video.
It read: “As with all goal situations, the VAR team checked every aspect of the goal. After the on-field officials had disallowed the goal for offside, the checking phase and process started and was carried out correctly by the VAR.
“The kick-point selection was accurate and the use of a single 2D line on the foot of the second rear-most defender was also correctly positioned.
“The image created showed that Luis Diaz was clearly onside, without the need for the insertion of a second line.
“In a lapse of concentration and loss of focus in that moment, the VAR lost sight of the on-field decision and he incorrectly communicated ‘check complete’, therefore inadvertently confirming the on-field decision. He did this without any dialogue with the AVAR [Assistant VAR].
“The match then restarted immediately. After a few seconds, the Replay Operator and then the AVAR queried the check-complete outcome with the VAR and asked him to review the image that had been created, pointing out that the original on-field decision had been offside, but this was not communicated to the on-field team at any point during the match.
“The VAR team then gave consideration as to whether the game could be stopped at that point, however the VAR and AVAR concluded that the VAR protocol within the Laws of the Game would not permit that to happen, and they decided intervention was not possible as play had restarted.”
PGMOL also confirmed they had “carried out a review into the circumstances which led to the Luis Diaz goal being incorrectly disallowed for offside”.
Their statement also included a bullet point list of “key learnings” from the call.
They read: “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
The full transcript from the decision can be read below:
Darren England: “Possible offside, Diaz.”
Assistant Referee 2: “Give it.”
Assistant Referee 1: “Coming back for the offside, mate.”
England: “Just checking the offside. Delay, delay.”
England: “Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point please?”
Simon Hooper: “Yeah, no worries mate.”
Replay Operator: “So, here we are.”
Hooper: “Wait.”
Replay Operator: “Just get a tight angle.”
England: “Yeah, give me 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that.”
Replay Operator: “So frame two there?”
England: “That’s fine. Perfect, yeah. 2D line on the left boot.”
Replay Operator: “Let me just switch angles.”
England: “Romero, I think it is?”
Replay Operator: “I think it might be this angle better? Happy with this angle?”
England: “Yep.”
Replay Operator: “2D line on the boot?”
England: “2D line on the boot.”
Replay Operator: “Yep, okay. So 2D line on the boot.”
England: “And stop. Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect.”
Assistant Referee 1: “Playing.”
Hooper: “Cheers mate.”
England: “Thank you mate.”
Hooper: “Well done boys, good process.”
Replay Operator: “Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this?”
Assistant VAR: “Yeah.”
Replay Operator: “Are you happy with this?”
Assistant VAR: “Offside, goal, yeah. That’s wrong that, Daz.”
England: “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: “He’s played him, he’s gone offside.”
England: “Oh (expletive).”
Replay Operator: “Delay, delay. Oli’s (PGMOL Hub Ops) saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”
England: “Pardon?”
Replay Operator: “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.”
England: “Can’t do anything.”
Replay Operator: “Oli’s saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”
England: “Oli?”
Fourth Official: “Yeah?”
Replay Operator: “Delay the game, to delay the game? Stop the game.”
England: “They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.”
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Assistant VAR: Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah. No.”
England: “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. *Expletive*.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
