England have also been excluded from this weekend's Premier League fixtures. Photo: AFP/Glyn Kirk
Darren England, the spokesman at the center of the Vara controversy that has plunged English referees into crisis, will not be in charge of Liverpool's further games this season but will not be sacked.
England was the deciding factor for Luis Diaz's goal for Liverpool, which was mistakenly disallowed in their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham last Saturday. The error raised serious questions about Ware's trial and Jurgen Klopp called for the game to be replayed.
The 37-year-old was sent off by Professional Game Match Officials Limited, along with assistant Ware Dan Cook. for Premier League matches this weekend, but Telegraph Sport understands he retains the support of referee referee Howard Webb.
The international break that follows this weekend's games is expected to provide some respite from the looming storm, and the situation will be reviewed when the next round of appointments is made for the ninth round.
England used to be something of a poster child. -boy for PGMOL, and was offered detailed behind-the-scenes access granted to The Guardian newspaper as part of a media offensive this year.
It is unlikely that England will welcome Liverpool's replacement again any time soon
This mistake will affect him in financially, his fees for games lost amount to around £1,200 on top of a base salary of around £150,000. He is also a FIFA listed referee and has been responsible for Europa Conference League games as well as Champions League qualifying matches.
Webb's predecessor at PGMOL, Mike Riley, was keen to keep referees away from clubs where decisions made them unpopular. Although Webb wants to move away from this, it is unlikely that England will be in charge of Liverpool as a referee or Ware any time soon.
On Saturday night, England misunderstood referee Simon Hooper's decision on Diaz's legal goal, thinking it had been given. He subsequently signaled «check complete» to Hooper, but the on-field referee assumed this meant his initial «no goal» decision was correct.
Webb has been ruthless in the past towards former referee Lee Mason, who accepted a contract as War's team official last season and was sacked after an error in Arsenal's draw with Brentford in February. Mason's dismissal, presented as a mutually agreed decision, came after other mistakes left PGMOL frustrated. Mike Dean also became War's only official last season after stepping down as referee at the end of the 2021-22 campaign. His unsuitability for the role of Varus led to him not being assigned a game since February and he left in the summer.
England were struggling with their game until Saturday's error. As a referee, he was sent to the monitor to review the penalty awarded to Aston Villa against Crystal Palace on September 16 and stuck to his original decision, which was later ruled wrong by the incident panel in the key Premier League match. As Ware, he also had to restore Burnley's goal against Nottingham Forest, which was wrongly disallowed for a handball error.
Ifab believes that referees have the right not to stop play to correct the error
Ifab, the world governing body for the rules of the game, has no plans to change the Var protocol in light of Diaz's error, with sources indicating that it believes it was simply human error and there is nothing wrong with the rules of the game.
Many pundits, including Telegraph Sport columnist Jamie Carragher, argue that England should have told referee Hooper to stop play and go back to restore the goal. Var protocol does not allow decisions to be changed after play has restarted, except in exceptional circumstances — «a case of mistaken identity» or violations associated with ejection, such as «aggressive behavior, spitting, biting or extremely offensive, insulting and/or offensive behavior.»
The Diaz incident did not reach the threshold for either of these indicators and therefore Ifab believes the referees were right not to stop the game to correct the mistake they made seconds earlier. Telegraph Sport have been told that Ifab believes that if the referees and Vars re-review the incidents, it could potentially lead to chaos in the game. Ifab believes that football must recognize that human error will always play a role.
In addition, Ifab sources said that if the game had been stopped and Diaz's goal had been restored, Spurs would have been In the event of a defeat, there is a strong case for a replay.
“Misapplication of the law,” as would be the case here, is, according to Ifab sources, the legal basis for demanding a replay of matches. The IFAB is reviewing the Var protocol, now seven years old, and the IFAB's annual general meeting is scheduled for early next year.
However, there is a precedent — France's goal was canceled retrospectively at the World Cup final in Qatar changed from a goal to «no goal» due to offside even after the Tunisian opponent scored again.
The goal equalized Antoine Griezmann's goal in the 98th minute of the final group game. It ultimately ended 1-0 in Tunisia's favor. The referee stopped play on Ware's advice to overturn the decision. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee subsequently rejected the French Football Federation's complaint.
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