It was a weekend to forget for the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), as an enormous officiating error sent shockwaves through the Premier League.
During a Saturday afternoon match, Liverpool left-winger Luis Diaz scored in the first half to put the Reds up 1-0 against Tottenham, according to ESPN.
However, the assistant referee’s flag went up as the ball rolled into the back of the net. The referee, Simon Hooper, then disallowed the goal for an offside offence, according to ESPN.
Replays, however, clearly showed that Diaz was onside when the ball was played to him. To viewers’ amazement, the ensuing check by the video assistant referee (VAR), Darren England, resulted in play being restarted – the goal disallowed.
Liverpool fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their dismay.
“Luis Diaz goal was onside. The PGMOL are corrupt,” Liverpool fan account Samuel said.
At halftime, pundits were left puzzled as they tried to explain what had just happened.
“We’re told that Diaz is ahead of the last defender, even though it doesn’t look like it to the naked eye,” NBC pundit, Robbie Earle, said.
The following explanation of the blunder by the PGMOL did nothing to soften the anger of Liverpool fans.
According to ESPN, the VAR incorrectly thought that the on-field decision by the officials was a goal. Thus, he checked for offside, saw Diaz was onside and gave the “check complete” to referee Simon Hooper, not knowing the decision was actually offside on the field.
It was only a miscommunication but an utter one in a million moment that just so happened to take place during a highly-anticipated matchup.
The incident sparked uproar against the PGMOL and the league with claims of corruption and match-fixing.
On Tuesday, the PGMOL released the audio of the incident. Along with the audio came a lengthy statement and apology from the PGMOL, according to ESPN.
Listeners could hear as the officials realized their mistake.
“[Replay operator] Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside… [Assistant VAR] That’s wrong Daz. [VAR] What?… Oh (expletive),” the officials said, according to the Premier League website.
Unfortunately, protocol states that once the game has been restarted (which it did), the error cannot be corrected.
In their statement, the PGMOL said, “We recognise standards fell short of expectations and acknowledged the error to Liverpool immediately after the conclusion of the fixture,” according to the Premier League’s website.
Additionally, the VAR and AVAR were both removed from their remaining weekend appointments that weekend and have been excluded from this weekend’s matches. The PGMOL has also expressed intent to introduce new communication protocols, to ensure an error of this magnitude never happens again.
