‘Oh f***’: Excruciating VAR audio released of Premier League ‘incompetence’ debacle

Excruciating audio has been released of the moment officials realised they had botched a decision in the English Premier League.

A VAR replay of the contentious Luis Diaz off-side

English referee chiefs have made public the VAR audio of the decision that led to Liverpool forward Luis Diaz having a goal wrongly disallowed in the Reds’ controversial defeat at Tottenham.

VAR official Darren England and his assistant (AVAR) Daniel Cook did not overrule the incorrect on-field decision of off-side after Diaz had scored what would have been the opening of Saturday’s Premier League clash in north London.

Liverpool went on to lose 2-1 and had Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota sent off as their unbeaten start to the season came to an end.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) released a statement admitting a “significant human error” had led to the wrong decision being made.

But Liverpool were furious with the blunder and said on Sunday they would explore their options given the “clear need for escalation and resolution” PGMOL have provided a detailed report alongside the audio to the Premier League, which has in turn shared with Liverpool and the other 19 top-flight clubs.

The audio reveals the conversation between the VAR officials, who only realise their error after the match has restarted.

A VAR replay of the contentious Luis Diaz off-side.

In the recording, England says “check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect” before the replay operator and Cook question whether the correct decision has been made.

England utter an expletive when he realises the error and says “they’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything” as the replay operator makes repeated calls to delay the match.

That Var audio is better than the moon landing commentary MCFC LG x

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) October 3, 2023

The VAR audio is genuinely awful and shows the incompetence but honestly, it’s been great for the socials content tonight

— Ste Hoare (@stehoare) October 3, 2023

The referees body said in a statement on Tuesday that “standards fell short of expectations” and it has identified three key learnings “to mitigate against the risk of a future error”.

They will stress the importance of accuracy ahead of efficiency to video match officials, while 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,” the statement said.

“We recognise standards fell short of expectations and acknowledged the error to Liverpool immediately after the conclusion of the fixture.”

The officials congratulated themselves despite getting the decision wrong.

‘Systemic weaknesses’

England and Cook have not been included among the officials for duty in the coming weekend’s Premier League fixtures.

The pair had already been replaced for the remainder of their matchweek seven duties.

England was due to be fourth official at Nottingham Forest against Brentford on Sunday, with Cook scheduled to be assistant referee for Monday’s Fulham versus Chelsea clash.

Premier League chiefs admitted human error and systemic weaknesses had contributed to the costly mistake.

Calling for “higher standards” in VAR decision-making, a Premier League spokesperson said: “Having reviewed all relevant footage of the disallowed Luis Diaz goal during the Tottenham Hotspur FC versus Liverpool FC match on Saturday, and PGMOL’s report into the incident, it is clear that there were not only human errors but systemic weaknesses in the VAR process.

“We accept PGMOL’s immediate recommendations to ensure that such failures are not repeated in the future.

“However, a wider review to seek consistently higher standards of VAR performance will be conducted by the Premier League and PGMOL, supported by other stakeholders, and where necessary further recommended actions will be brought forward and implemented.

“We have communicated fully with Liverpool FC on this matter and have shared PGMOL’s findings and relevant footage of the incident with all Premier League clubs.”

Luis Diaz thought he had scored for Liverpool. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

FULL VAR TRANSCRIPT

Assistant referee 1: “Waiting. Delaying, delaying.”

VAR: “Possible off-side, Diaz.”

Assistant referee 1: “Coming back for the off-side, mate.”

VAR: “Just checking the off-side, Delay, delay.”

VAR: “Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point, please?”

Referee: “Yeah, no worries, mate.”

Replay operator: “So here we are.”

Referee: “Wait.”

Replay operator: “Just get a tight angle.”

VAR: “Yeah, give me a 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that.”

Replay operator: “So frame two there?”

VAR: “That’s fine.”

VAR: “Perfect, yeah.”

VAR: “2D line on the left boot.”

Replay operator: “Let me just switch angles.”

VAR: “Romero, I think it is?”

Replay operator: “I think it might be this angle [that is] better? Happy with this angle?”

VAR: “Yep.”

Replay operator: “2D line on the boot?”

VAR: “2D line on the left boot.”

Replay operator: “Yeah, okay.”

Replay operator: “So, 2D line on the boot.”

VAR: “And stop.”

VAR: “Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect.”

Assistant referee 1: “Playing.”

Referee: “Cheers, mate.”

VAR: “Thank you, mate.”

Referee: “Well done, boys. Good process.”

Replay operator: “Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was off-side.”

Replay operator: “Are you happy with this?”

Assistant VAR: “Yeah.”

Replay operator: “Are you happy with this?”

Assistant VAR: “Offside, goal, yeah.”

Assistant VAR: “That’s wrong that, Daz.”

VAR: “What?”

Replay operator: “On-field decision was off-side. Are you happy with this image? Yeah, it’s onside. The image that we gave them is onside.”

Assistant VAR: “The left-back he’s played him, he’s gone.”

VAR: “Oh [expletive].”

Replay operator: “Delay, delay.”

Replay operator: “Oli’s [PGMOL Hub Ops] saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”

VAR: “Pardon?”

Replay operator: “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.”

VAR: “Can’t do anything.”

Replay operator: “Oli’s saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”

VAR: “Oli?”

Fourth official: “Yeah?”

Replay operator: “Delay the game, delay the game. Stop the game.”

VAR: “They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.”

Assistant VAR: “Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.”

VAR: “Can’t do anything.”

Assistant VAR: “No.”

VAR: “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. *Expletive*.”