The head of the referee committee is preparing to release the recording of the call between the VAR team and referee Simon Hooper that led to the mistake that caused Liverpool to unfairly lose a legitimate goal against Tottenham on Saturday.
A very amateur mistake happened when Luis Diaz scored against Tottenham in the first half of the match in North London. The Colombian striker was flagged offside by the linesman, while VAR referee Darren England and assistant Dan Cook mistakenly believed that the on-field decision was to recognize a goal so they did not request a change in the decision.
Liverpool put pressure on refereeing body PGMOL on Monday with a request to provide a recording of the conversation between the referees in this situation, and they are prepared to give it. PGMOL officials had mixed reactions about whether the audio clip should be made public or not, but ultimately all agreed to bring the matter to light after today’s meeting.
Liverpool strongly condemned the refereeing error in a strong statement on Sunday evening, in which they said a “range of options” were being considered, not even ruling out the possibility that they wanted the match The match is replayed. The Reds also put pressure on the referees by demanding a copy of the tape on Monday.
As for PGMOL, the organization is not only investigating Saturday’s incident but also reviewing its policy of allowing referees to undertake international duties between Premier League matches. England and Cook were part of the refereeing team officiating a match in the UAE on Thursday night, having only returned to England after 16 hours on Friday, before making the mistake in London on Saturday.
Referees are under pressure from Premier League clubs to suspend these contracts outside of England. Michael Oliver also oversaw the match between Al Hilal and Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia in April. Craig Pawson refereed Panathinaikos against PAOK in the Greek Super League in May, while Andy Madley officiated two matches in the Japanese J1 League in June.
For each “tour” match as above, referees can receive up to 2,500 pounds. Each trip requires FA approval and is often facilitated, as long as it does not affect the professional quality of referees for Premier League matches.
The exchange between the referee and the VAR team is currently not allowed to be broadcast publicly, according to the rules of IFAB, football’s legislator. But Premier League commentators can hear conversations while covering matches inside the stadium and those who listened on Saturday dismissed the possibility of cheating.
It seems that England mistakenly believed that Diaz’s goal had been recognized by referee Hooper, before he checked VAR, and after this situation only reaffirmed to the referee that “the check is complete”. That’s when he thought he was confirming the winger’s goal was valid. When Tottenham restarted the match with their own free kick, Hooper was unable to make amends by giving the goal back to Liverpool.
It is expected that PGMOL will soon make an announcement about Liverpool’s requests.
