Dimmed lights, dozens of screens and men with headsets huddled together… but once play starts they’re shouting over each other: Inside the Premier League’s VAR ‘Hub’ where refs made disastrous Liverpool offside decision
- Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has called for last Saturday’s match to be replayed
- Decision was made at a state-of-the-art new VAR Hub which opened this year
- Click HERE to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’
The disastrous VAR offside decision that has left Liverpool demanding a Premier League match is replayed was made inside a new state-of-the-art facility.
The bespoke VAR Hub at Stockley Park in west London, where video officials watch the action on banks of television and computer screens, only opened its doors at the start of the year.
The Premier League and referees’ body PGMOL trumpeted the Hub as ‘the perfect space for our officials to work’ and ‘an environment where the best possible outcomes can be achieved’ just a few weeks ago.
But faith in video referees and the integrity of the world’s most popular league has been severely shaken by Liverpool forward Luis Diaz having a goal wrongly ruled out in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham and the chaotic aftermath.
PGMOL admitted that VAR official Darren England and assistant Dan Cook, who were sat in the Stockley Park control room, failed to act after Diaz’s 34th-minute goal was wrongly disallowed.
The Premier League opened its new state-of-the-art VAR Hub at Stockley Park in west London earlier this year – the video technology is at the centre of a major controversy this week
The purple-coloured control room features banks of computer screens and TV monitors
Premier League VAR officials watch television feeds and replays from a special ‘Hub’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CQPV2blzbTc%3Frel%3D0
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Replays of the incident showed Tottenham defender Cristian Romero clearly playing Diaz onside.
The disallowed goal came with Liverpool down to 10 men after Curtis Jones had been sent off but with the scores still level.
Released audio of the interactions between he VAR officials and on-pitch referee Simon Hooper revealed those at Stockley Park believed the on-field decision was ‘goal’ rather than ‘offside’.
This meant the VAR check was completed and by the time the error was noticed, the match had already restarted, meaning it was too late to make the correct call.
The transcript end with England saying: ‘I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. F***.’
The saga took another dramatic step on Wednesday when Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp sensationally called for the entire game to be replayed.
‘I can say immediately, even though some people wouldn’t want me to say, not as a Liverpool manager, more as a football person, the only outcome should be a replay,’ he said.
‘That’s how it is. Probably won’t happen.’
Jurgen Klopp has called for Liverpool’s match with Tottenham to be replayed following VAR’s ‘significant error’ in disallowing Luis Diaz’s strike during Saturday’s 2-1 away defeat
VAR wrongly believed the on-field decision to be ‘goal’, meaning they said the check was complete, with the player clearly onside.
The PGMOL released the full audio from the VAR hub during Liverpool ‘s controversial 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, that saw referee Simon Hooper incorrectly disallow the Reds a goal
VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) were dropped from their roles for upcoming fixtures after the high-profile error
A slick video released on the Premier League website back in August takes us inside the workspace where England and Cook made their mistake last weekend.
The room features cubicles each with three computer monitors and communication headsets where VAR officials can watch the live action and the replays necessary to help on-field referees with decisions.
Aside from the on-brand Premier League purple colour scheme and quite dim lighting, the first thing you notice is how close the officials are sat to one another.
While the Spurs vs Liverpool game was a 5.30pm kick-off and the only game taking place at that time, the chatter of all the officials huddled in the tight space when many games are happening simultaneously must certainly test the noise-cancelling qualities of the headphones.
But as well as that nerve centre for busy matchdays, great pains have been taken to provide space for officials to prepare pre-match and then unwind post-match.
There are lounges, complete with TV screens showing sport channels, a canteen, kitchen area and a fully equipped gymnasium.
A Premier League video showed fans around the modern VAR Hub at Stockley Park in August
The VAR operations room features a purple colour scheme very on brand with the competition
The VAR Hub features quite a few referees in close proximity during busy matchdays
The Stockley Park HQ also features areas where referees can relax and unwind
Another video in which Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher are shown around the building reveals it also boasts a massage room for the officials.
PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb said when it opened: ‘It’s a cutting-edge and completely bespoke elite-performance facility, an environment where the best possible outcomes can be achieved in the VAR space to benefit the game.
‘It’s not only the perfect space for our officials to work when they are acting as VAR or AVAR [assistant] though, there are other areas for our officials to focus pre-game and debrief post-game, while there’s a gym and a recovery area, as well as a training centre, both for VAR work and for general refereeing development.’
A fully-equipped gymnasium enables the officials to work out before or after their duties
A mini-football game is seen in one of the cafeteria areas at the modern VAR Hub
Premier League referee Peter Bankes says: ‘What we’ve seen today is beyond my wildest dreams in terms of facilities. The Hub it self is fantastic – it’s quite futuristic and professional.’
Stuart Attwell says: ‘I think it’s a fantastic advancement for us. I think it’s going to put us in a real position to be able and deliver world class performances in a world class competition.’
However, just one contentious incident has gone a long way to undermining faith in the VAR system.
How the latest VAR controversy unfolded – transcript in full
Assistant referee 1 (Adrian Holmes): ‘All good. Both holding. Both holding’
Referee (Simon Hooper): ‘Yeah, leave it alone.’
Assistant referee 1: ‘Waiting. Delaying, delaying.’
VAR (Darren England): ‘Possible offside, Diaz.’
Assistant referee 2 (Simon Long): ‘Give it.’
Assistant referee 1: ‘Coming back for the offside, mate.’
VAR: ‘Just checking the offside. 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 2D line ready after this one from frame two after that.’
Replay operator: ‘So frame two there?’
VAR: ‘That’s fine. Perfect, yeah. 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 better? Happy with this angle?’
VAR: ‘Yep.’
—
Replay operator: ‘2D line on the boot?’
VAR: ‘2D line on the boot.’
Replay operator: ‘Yep, okay. So 2D line on the boot.’
VAR: ‘And stop. 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 offside.. Are you happy with this?’
Assistant VAR (Dan Cook): ‘Yeah.’
Replay operator: ‘Are you happy with this?’
Assistant VAR: ‘Offside, goal, yeah. That’s wrong that, Daz.’
VAR: ‘What?’
Replay operator: ‘On-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yeah, it is onside. The image that we gave them is onside.’
Assistant VAR: ‘He’s playing him, he’s gone offside.
VAR: ‘Oh f***’
Replay operator: ‘Delay, delay. Oli (Kohout, 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, to delay the game? Stop the game.’
VAR: ‘They’ve started the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.’
Assistant VAR: ‘Yeah they’ve restarted. Yeah. No.’
VAR: ‘I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. F***.’
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