Referees Darren England and Dan Cook stood down amid ongoing VAR controversy

October 03, 2023

Referees Darren England and Dan Cook have been stood down for another round of Premier League fixtures amid the ongoing fallout from last weekend's VAR controversy.

Criticism of referees' body PGMOL has continued to intensify following a succession of controversial calls, which included Liverpool being denied a rightful goal in their defeat at Tottenham.

VAR officials England and Cook were originally replaced for two games after VAR wrongly disallowed Luis Diaz' goal to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead on Saturday, but that has now been extended to a further round of fixtures.

Simon Hooper, the on-field referee for the Tottenham-Liverpool contest and fourth official for Monday's subsequent Fulham game, will be the VAR official when Everton host Bournemouth this Saturday.

England was also due to referee Preston's away game with Leicester in the Championship on Wednesday night, but has been replaced by Thomas Bramall.

PGMOL has committed to a full review after being forced to release a statement late on Saturday, which accepted the decision to disallow Luiz's goal was the result of "significant human error".

Liverpool have responded by saying "sporting integrity has been undermined" by the VAR mistake and demanded the audio of the conversation between Hooper and England related to the incident be released - which is yet to happen.

The Merseyside club have also said they will "explore the full range of options available" in order to come to a suitable resolution.

Carra: 'We're at a crisis point with VAR'

PGMOL's apology to Liverpool was the second they have been forced to make this season following the decision not to award Wolves a late penalty during their defeat at Manchester United after Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic.

The apologies follow a series of high-profile errors last season and Carragher said: "I don't think the feeling about VAR has been lower. It's at crisis point.

"It's not just this decision - it's on the back of other incidents this season, like the Wolves one with Manchester United on Monday Night Football.

"I don't want to pile into the officials or Howard Webb - they must feel awful. I'm not into the conspiracy theories - no one gains anything from this.

"We've all made mistakes. But this is a horrendous mistake, unprecedented."

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