Laws chiefs have ‘no plans’ to change VAR protocol despite Liverpool blunder

The world governing body for the laws of the game, IFAB has “no plans” to change the VAR protocol, despite the shambolic scenes from Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Various pundits have been calling for some drastic and immediate changes to the protocol which prevented the referees from halting the game and changing a decision between Jurgen Klopp’s and Ange Postecoglou’s sides. Reds’ forward Luis Diaz thought he had opened the scoring, but the linesman stuck his flag up.

Despite the fact VAR official Darren England clearly saw Diaz was onside, the goal could not be allowed, as he said: “check complete” without realising a flag had been raised. Despite this shocking mistake, which has been played out to the football world thanks to the PGMOL’s decision to release the audio from the VAR office in Stockley Park, the IFAB has no intention to overhaul the protocol.

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According to the Telegraph, the IFAB is not planning on adapting the protocol, currently forbidding decisions from being reversed after the game has been restarted.

The current ruling states a decision can only be reversed in exceptional circumstances such as: “a case of mistaken identity” or red card offences includingu: “violent conduct, spitting, biting, or extremely offensive, insulting and/or abusive actions”.

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Diaz’s disallowed goal did not meet the requirements allowing the game to be reversed according to the protocol. The IFAB are also understood to believe the officials were right not to halt the game and reverse the decision. According to the Telegraph, the IFAB believes reversing the decision could set a precedent of incidents being re-reviewed that may lead to chaos.

Moreover, they also reportedly feel that if the game was stopped and the goal was allowed, then Spurs may have had a case to order a replay by referring to the: “misapplication of law” section in their rules. However, games have been stopped to allow a decision to be changed before.

In the recent World Cup, France saw a last minute equaliser from Antoine Griezmann be allowed and then disallowed for offside, despite the fact Tunisia had kicked off and restarted the game. The referee stopped the game after being advised by VAR so they could review the decision, which went on to be reversed, thus handing Tunisia a famous 1-0 victory.

Despite a complaint being issued by the French Football Federation, FIFA dismissed their protestations.

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