Following the contentious incident in last weekend’s Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool match, where Luis Diaz’s goal was incorrectly disallowed for offside, both the PGMOL and Premier League have pledged to consistently share in-game audio from on-field officials and VAR teams in the 2023/24 season. The second installment of ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up’ is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Premier League and refereeing body PGMOL have committed to regularly release in-game audio of on-field officials and video assistant referee (VAR) teams during the 2023/24 season.
The objective is to remain “open and transparent” about how decisions are made, and provide supporters with a window into the process for doing so.
It comes in the wake of a highly controversial incident which saw Luis Diaz have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday, September 30.
Diaz thought he’d struck Liverpool ahead moments after the Reds were reduced to 10 men, but his effort was ruled offside by the on-field team with VAR failing to overturn the decision following a mix-up.
Son Heung-min and Cody Gakpo’s goals in the first half saw the teams locked at 1-1 and after Liverpool were reduced to nine players in the second half, Joel Matip’s 96th-minute own goal handed victory to Ange Postecoglou’s side.
The decision to disallow Diaz’s first-half goal sparked strong debate around the workings and runnings of the technology, with Reds manager Jurgen Klopp in favour of replaying the fixture.
In the days after, the PGMOL and the Premier League released the audio of the incident.
Darren England, who was the VAR for the game between Tottenham and Liverpool, has been stood down from action this weekend.
As part of the bid to share insight into refereeing, the second episode of ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up’ will air on Tuesday, October 10 both internationally and in the UK, and will be available to stream on TNT Sports.
Howard Webb, the PGMOL’s Chief Refereeing Officer, will be joined by former Premier League and England striker Michael Owen as the pair explore refereeing decisions from recent matches.
Match footage and previously un-released audio between the on-field officials and VAR teams will be shown to viewers with the aim of providing supporters insight into the decision-making process in top-flight fixtures.
The inaugural episode of ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up,’ which was broadcast in May, is believed to be the world’s first dedicated program to feature audio exchanges between on-field officials and VAR teams in the realm of football.
