The official who was on VAR duty for the wrongly disallowed Luis Diaz goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in 2023 has spoken about the impact that the controversy had on his family.
The Colombian thought he had put the Reds 1-0 up in the 35th minute of the game in north London, but he was incorrectly flagged for offside, and a subsequent review from Stockley Park saw that erroneous decision upheld.
When the audio from the VAR conversation was publicly released a few days later, it was revealed that Darren England – the official on duty – had given the message of ‘check complete’ to the on-field referee in the mistaken belief that the goal was allowed to stand.
England recalls impact of erroneous VAR decision
The 40-year-old has given an interview to BBC Sport in which he reflected on the regret from that hugely controversial decision, and how the fallout seeped into his family life.
England recalled: “Once I realised I’d made the error, it’s a really difficult place to try to forget that and move on. I can’t just physically stand up and walk out and leave it alone. A lot of resilience was needed – a lot of experience as well.”
He added: “The aftermath obviously was really difficult to deal with. It was challenging because it’s the goldfish bowl of the Premier League, but when mistakes happen, then you’re in the public eye and criticism’s inevitably going to come your way.
“That was difficult because it affected my family as well. We had people outside my girls’ school, journalists and things like that. That then affects you not as a referee, but as a human being.”
Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
It was a glaring error, but the media intrusion crossed a line
The catalogue of errors which led to Diaz’s legitimate goal being disallowed was farcical, with all of the officials on duty collectively culpable for the shambolic process which unfolded.
England did acknowledge in the VAR audio that he thought the on-field decision was onside and immediately held his hands up to the error, but that came as no comfort to anyone associated with Liverpool after such a costly and preventable outcome.
🚨 OFFICIAL: PGMOL have released VAR audio from Spurs v Liverpool 🔊 pic.twitter.com/zNLDyHkBbe
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 3, 2023
Criticism of the officials botching the process was inevitable and justified, but obviously the media intrusion into the referee’s family life crossed an unacceptable line, and we can empathise with how difficult the fallout must’ve been for the now 40-year-old.
Unfortunately, more than three years on from that chaotic blunder, refereeing standards in the Premier League haven’t improved to any great extent, as we saw at the weekend with the inexplicable decision not to award a penalty for a clear pull by Jurrien Timber on Alexander Isak’s shirt.
Pro Ref chief executive Howard Webb needs to do much more to ensure that a satisfactory standard of officiating is reached, but no person deserves to have an error in the course of the work turn into an unwarranted invasion on their family life.