What happened in the Tottenham v Liverpool game at the weekend was truly extraordinary. I’m not even talking about the shambolic refereeing or the team with 9 men only losing to an own goal in injury time. Yet again, it’s about VAR. But this time, we’ve reached a whole new lowpoint in the (mis)use of technology in football.
If Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) are to be believed, the VAR team, led by Darren England, somehow missed the fact that the referee, Simon Hooper, had disallowed a Luis Diaz goal for offside. Yes, really. They missed the linesman’s flag, the lack of celebration and the caption saying CHECKING DISALLOWED GOAL. They thought the ref had allowed the goal and just said ‘Check complete’ – not ‘Actually, mate, he’s about a metre onside’. So the ref gave Spurs a free kick and the goal was ruled out. And the VAR team didn’t correct him. And then Spurs went up the other end and scored to compound the injustice.
This is absolutely beyond belief. It’s not, as a number of people seem to think, ‘just another dodgy VAR call’, something that happens to someone’s team every week . We are told VAR in fact made the right call, but failed to communicate it to the ref. It’s like a judge mishearing a ‘guilty’ verdict and telling the accused they are free to go, and nobody saying anything as the guilty party waltzes off home.
PGMOL need to release the audio to confirm such an incredible turn of events. And given the decision was so crucial to the match outcome – Liverpool would have taken the lead with ten players on the pitch due to a debatable red card – it needs full investigation and appropriate action. An apology won’t cut it. Liverpool FC are quite right to say that sporting integrity was impacted and that the whole thing needs to be looked at, including how the officials were appointed, given three of them had flown back from officiating a game in the United Arab Emirates the day before. We can’t just jump to a ‘human error’ verdict without looking into it properly.
I hate conspiracy theories and I don’t think this farce – or the terrible refereeing of the game overall – is part of some grand plan against Liverpool FC. But we would be daft not to recognise that it is the sort of thing feeds those narratives. And letting it pass with a shrug of the shoulders will see what little trust remains in officials evaporate entirely.
Rory writes 