Darren England, the official at the centre of the Var controversy that has plunged English referees into crisis, will not take charge of further Liverpool games this season but will not be sacked.
England was the Var for Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool that was mistakenly disallowed last Saturday in their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham. The error has prompted major questions of the Var process and Jurgen Klopp has called for a replay of the game.
The 37-year-old has been removed by Professional Game Match Officials Limited along with assistant Var Dan Cook for this weekend’s fixtures in the Premier League but Telegraph Sport understands he retains backing from Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer.
The international break that follows this weekend’s games is expected to offer some respite from the gathering storm and the situation will be reviewed when the next round of appointments is made for matchday nine.
England was previously something of a poster-boy for PGMOL, and was put forward for in-depth behind-the-scenes access granted to The Guardian newspaper as part of a media offensive this year.
Unlikely England will take change of Liverpool again any time soon
The mistake will have affected him financially – his match fees for games he has lost amount to around £1,200 on top of a basic salary of approximately £150,000. He is also a Fifa-list referee and has taken charge of Europa Conference League games as well as Champions League qualifiers.
Webb’s predecessor at PGMOL, Mike Riley, was keen to keep referees away from clubs where decisions had made them unpopular. While Webb wants to move away from that, it is unlikely that England will be in charge of Liverpool as a referee or Var any time soon.
On Saturday evening, England misunderstood on-field referee Simon Hooper’s decision for Diaz’s legitimate goal – thinking it had been given. He subsequently gave Hooper the “check complete” all-clear – but the on-field referee assumed that meant his original “no goal” decision was correct.
Webb has been ruthless in the past with former referee Lee Mason, who accepted a contract as Var-only official last season and was sacked after mistakes in Arsenal’s draw with Brentford in February. Mason’s dismissal – presented as a mutually agreed decision – came after other errors had left PGMOL frustrated. Mike Dean also became a Var-only official last season after his on-field retirement as a referee at the end of the 2021-2022 campaign. His unsuitability for the Var role meant he was not assigned a game from February onwards and departed in the summer.
England struggled with his performances prior to Saturday’s error. As the on-field referee he was sent to the monitor to review a penalty awarded for Aston Villa against Crystal Palace on Sept 16 and stuck with his original decision – later ruled by the Premier League’s Key Match Incident panel to be the wrong call. As a Var he also should have reinstated a Burnley goal against Nottingham Forest wrongly ruled out for an erroneous handball.
Ifab believes officials right not to stop play to rectify mistake
Ifab, the world governing body for the laws of the game, has no plans to change the Var protocol in light of the Diaz mistake, with sources indicating it believes it was simply human error and nothing wrong with the laws of the game.
Many pundits, including Telegraph Sport columnist Jamie Carragher, have argued that England should have told on-field referee Hooper to stop the game and go back to reinstate the goal. The Var protocol does not allow for decisions to be changed after the game has restarted other than in exceptional circumstances – “a case of mistaken identity” or sending-off offences such as “violent conduct, spitting, biting, or extremely offensive, insulting and/or abusive actions”.
The Diaz incident did not meet the threshold for any of these and Ifab therefore believes the officials were right not to stop play to rectify the mistake they had made seconds earlier. Telegraph Sport was told Ifab believes if referees and Vars were to re-review incidents it could potentially lead to chaos in the game. Ifab believes football has to accept human error will always play a part.
In addition, Ifab sources have said if the game had been stopped and the Diaz goal reinstated, Spurs would – in the event of defeat – had a strong case for a replay.
“Misapplication of law”, as it would be in this case, is, according to Ifab sources, a legal basis for asking to replay matches. There is an Ifab review of the Var protocol – now seven years old – in progress, with the Ifab annual general meeting scheduled for early next year.
Nevertheless there is a precedent - a France goal was disallowed retrospectively at the World Cup finals in Qatar, switched from goal to ‘no goal’ for offside even after opponents Tunisia had kicked off again.
The goal was an equaliser from Antoine Griezmann in the 98th minute of the final group game that ultimately ended 1-0 to Tunisia. The referee stopped the game on the advice of the Var to reverse the decision. Fifa’s disciplinary committee subsequently dismissed a complaint by the French Football Federation.
