New VAR Guidelines Introduced in the Wake of Liverpool Controversy
The Premier League will be using new VAR guidelines this weekend in the wake of the controversy involving Liverpool. Last Saturday, miscommunication between VAR Darren England and referee Simon Hooper led to a Luis Diaz goal for Liverpool being wrongly disallowed for offside at Tottenham. Audio of the incident was released on Tuesday, with referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) saying it would develop a new VAR communication protocol in an effort to avoid similar mistakes being made in future.
New Protocol to Enhance Clarity of Communication
The PA news agency understands that the new protocol will now be in force right away. PGMOL said the protocol would “enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions”. VARs will now also confirm the outcome of the checking process with the assistant VAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials.
England mistakenly thought the on-field officials had ruled Diaz to be onside, which meant that when he told them ‘check complete’ they believed he had upheld their on-field decision and restarted play with a free-kick. Once play had restarted, there was nothing the VARs could do to revisit the decision under existing protocols.
Liverpool Manager Calls for Match to be Replayed
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called for the match to be replayed on Wednesday, something the Premier League is understood not to be prepared to consider. The league did release a statement on Tuesday, though, saying the Diaz incident had highlighted “systemic weaknesses” in the VAR process and said a wider review would take place “to seek consistently higher standards of VAR performance”. PGMOL and the Football Association will also review the policy allowing English officials to cover domestic league matches overseas.
Conclusion
The new VAR guidelines are an important step towards ensuring that similar mistakes are not made in future. While it is unfortunate that Liverpool were on the wrong end of a controversial decision, it is encouraging to see that the Premier League is taking steps to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated. The review of policies allowing English officials to cover domestic league matches overseas is also a positive step, as it will help to ensure that all officials are well-rested and able to make informed decisions during matches.