Premier League referees to continue freelancing abroad despite Liverpool offside fiasco
Premier League referees will be given the green light to continue freelancing in far-flung countries after it was found doing so played no part in the Liverpool offside goal fiasco.
The unprecedented blunder that meant Luis Diaz’s strike was wrongly ruled out during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in September was compounded by the revelation that the video assistant referees behind it had been part of a team allowed to take charge of a game in the United Arab Emirates just two days earlier.
The world’s richest league’s worst Var crisis prompted Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (the referees’ body) and the Football Association to agree to review the policy of allowing match officials to oversee games outside of Fifa and Uefa appointments.
Howard Webb, the head of PGMOL, has now revealed “no link” was found between Darren England and Dan Cook arriving back in the UK after a long-haul flight on the eve of the Spurs-Liverpool game and their failure to overturn an on-field decision to disallow Diaz’s goal.
Webb said: “In terms of that specific trip out to the Middle East, there was no link found from that to the error. Of course, we know it created noise.”
Telegraph Sport has been told the policy that determines whether referees, assistants and Vars are allowed to freelance in far-flung countries has remained unchanged as a result.
Webb, who had been under pressure to impose a crackdown, added: “Each request will be evaluated on its own merits. But we’ll only consider an approach from an overseas national federation on the condition it provides a development opportunity for the officials and that it has no impact at all on their availability to serve the leagues we exist to serve.
“Any such request would need to be approved by the PGMOL board. That’s our position.
“We’ve had no more requests since that one. Nobody’s been out to do that.”
Among those to raise concerns in the aftermath of England and Cook’s blunder was Keith Hackett, one of Webb’s predecessors as head of PGMOL.
“I understand that they officiated on Thursday evening, which means on Friday they will have had a minimum seven hours in the air,” Hackett told Telegraph Sport.
“This impacts on their recovery and a loss of sharpness in their performance. In my time in office, if they were in Europe on Thursday then they would not officiate until late Sunday or Monday at the earliest. This is yet another example of poor management of these professional sports persons and actual changes must be made to stop these mounting errors.”
Conflict of interest fears
There were also fears that allowing referees to work in the Middle East could raise the risk of a conflict of interest, although there is no suggestion that was an issue in the Spurs-Liverpool case
England and Cook both officiated in the UAE, which owns Premier League champions Manchester City, alongside referee Michael Oliver, who earlier this year was allowed to take charge of a match in the Saudi Pro League despite Newcastle United’s ownership links to the Gulf state.
A Premier League chief executive told The Times: “There must be an issue around fatigue for these long journeys in a short space of time. We have absolute trust in the integrity of our officials but from a fans’ viewpoint it is important to remove any possible suggestion of a conflict of interest by a referee being paid to cover a match in Saudi Arabia or the UAE where the league there has the same ownership as one of our clubs.”
England, Cook, Oliver and Stuart Burt were given permission to take charge of Sharjah’s match against Al-Ai after an approach was made to the Football Association.
It is not unusual for officials to work on matches in foreign countries on Thursday nights, for example in European competition, before then returning to action on English soil on the following Saturday. Those who have travelled are usually given off-field roles, such as Var.
Sorry Howard Webb, but our top referees work flat out – freelance poses real risks
I must question the wisdom of Howard Webb in allowing his Premier League referees to freelance and officiate games abroad.
Our top officials already work flat out and doing extra duties overseas carries real risks.
Games abroad usually require travel over a three-day period, which can be exhausting, particularly if the game is in Spain where kick-off is usually at 10pm.
Officiating in the Middle East or even in Asia involves a long-haul flight and of course the conditions in terms of heat and dehydration can be very taxing.
With a busy schedule over Christmas and New Year period, our officials have to criss-cross the country usually clocking up many miles driving too and from games.
I have no doubt that the requests from abroad that land on the desk of the head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited will be for the services of our top two referees, Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor.
When Webb, the current PGMOL chief, and Mark Clattenburg announced their retirement as referees in England, they both at separate times signed lucrative contracts to referee in Saudi Arabia. The formation of the Saudi League made it inevitable they would go looking for our top officials.
Oliver and Taylor will also be in regular demand, which of course would also include the appointment of English assistant referees along with a video assistant referee (another Premier League official).
Taylor and Oliver are already working hard in the Premier League, often for the most demanding games. So far this season, the Premier League website shows that Taylor (12 games) and Oliver (11) are again at the top of the table for the number of appointments. After they do their refereeing stint, the following day they are normally either fourth official or Var at Stockley Park. They also have to attend regular meetings of the PGMOL for training and performance review sessions.
In addition to being our top two Premier League performers with World Cup experience, they are also on the Uefa Elite Referees panel appointed to top games in the Champions League and Euro qualifiers. This season Oliver has officiated at seven Champions League games and Taylor six. In addition, Taylor has also taken charge of three Euro 2024 Championship qualifiers and Oliver two.
The standard of refereeing currently in the Premier League is frequently – and sometimes correctly – being called into question and I would suggest Taylor and Oliver need to ensure that they are not overworked and that they are allowed sufficient time to recover.
Their workload must be taken into consideration. There is always the risk that if officials, such as Taylor and Oliver, were to do extra work abroad they might get injured and will be targeted with a lucrative contract to officiate overseas full time and end their career with the PGMOL prematurely, as was the case with Clattenburg.
