Howard Webb: VAR Darren England was correct not to stop play after huge mistake during Tottenham vs Liverpool

PGMOL chief Howard Webb insists VAR Darren England was correct in his decision not to stop play after realising his huge mistake during Tottenham vs Liverpool last month.

Spurs sealed a 2-1 win over Liverpool with Luis Diaz seeing his first-half goal ruled out for offside despite replays clearly showing he was being kept on by Cristian Romero.

The PGMOL [Professional Game Match Officials Limited] admitted a ‘significant human error’ had been made in ruling out the goal shortly after full-time.

What happened?

The refereeing body later released audio of the decision being made which revealed the chaos erupting in the VAR room – and the panic when it was realised a huge mistake had been made.

England, the VAR official on the night, was heard saying ‘check complete’ – with the on-field referee Simon Hooper and his assistants interpreting that to mean the offside call was correct.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has asked for the game to replayed, also insisting the game should have been paused once the error was realised to discuss ‘solutions’. Despite the confusion among officials, head of referees Webb said laws of the game prevented such action being taken.

What did Howard Webb say?

Asked by Michael Owen whether the game should have been halted to try and rectify the mistake, Webb said: ‘I understand why people would ask that question.

‘Actually, the VAR and the AVAR asked themselves that question too when the penny dropped as to what had happened, I think 20 seconds had passed.

‘At that point they considered whether they could intervene to stop the game but they recognised that the laws of the game, set by FIFA and the IFAB, doesn’t allow that.

‘There’s obviously a process in place that sits in the laws of the game about how we use VAR to make sure it is delivered consistently throughout every league in the world. And it doesn’t allow you to go back in those circumstances. As such they decided not to intervene.’

What steps have been taken?

Webb went onto acknowledge there was a lack of clarity in England’s explanation that played a part in the wrong decision being confirmed and said steps are already being taken to ensure it is not repeated.

‘One of the things that this has brought into sharp focus is the need to reiterate some of those communication protocols that are really valuable in VAR to prevent this kind of thing happening,’ Webb said.

He added: ‘We’ve put quite a lot of steps in place to ensure the error that we saw in that important game doesn’t happen again.’

Conclusion

VAR has been a controversial topic since its introduction into football, and this incident further highlights its flaws. It is clear that steps are being taken to ensure mistakes like this do not happen again, but it is also important for fans to remember that referees and VAR officials are human and mistakes can happen. It is also important to remember that laws of the game do not allow for games to be stopped and replayed, and so VAR officials must act quickly and accurately when making decisions.

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