Howard Webb’s defence on Match Officials Mic’d Up of why Virgil van Dijk’s goal against Manchester City was disallowed is unlikely to have appeased Liverpool fans still aggrieved at the decision. While Webb’s description of the ruling as “reasonable” has been the focus, the programme revealed a more significant insight into how the decision was made.
Contrary to earlier reports, the decision to rule out the goal was effectively initiated by assistant referee Stuart Burt rather than referee Chris Kavanagh, VAR Michael Oliver or assistant VAR Timothy Wood. The audio transcript of the officials’ discussion shows the assistant referee instigating the call:
Assistant referee: “Robertson’s in line of vision, right in front of the keeper. He’s ducked under the ball. He’s very, very close to him. I think he’s [in] line of vision. I think he’s (Donnarumma) been impacted, mate.”
Referee: “Ok, so offside then.”
Assistant referee: “I think offside.”
From this exchange it is clear the assistant referee was the instigator and, by Kavanagh’s passive reply, effectively the chief decision-maker. That insight matters because it raises fresh doubts about the ruling’s validity.
The assistant referee was mispositioned to judge whether Robertson obstructed Donnarumma’s line of vision. He was roughly 90 degrees to the action; by contrast Kavanagh, and the VARs, were better placed to assess whether Robertson stood in the goalkeeper’s line of vision and impacted his ability to play the ball. Despite this, the assistant referee’s immediate verdict — “Robertson’s in line of vision” — set the decision in motion and left the VARs the task of deciding if there had been a clear and obvious error.
Webb’s point about the subjectivity of offsides where a player does not play the ball is relevant: on non-factual, subjective matters like interference, overturning an on-field call requires a very high threshold for “clear and obvious” error. Once the assistant referee called “in line of vision” there was little scope for reversal.
Law 11 – Offside
A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played is only penalised for interfering with an opponent by:
– Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision, or
– Challenging an opponent for the ball, or
– Clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent, or
– Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
It looks odd that the VAR concluded Robertson “makes an obvious movement directly” in front of Donnarumma when the action captured was Robertson ducking away from the ball. How that fits with the rule — specifically “make an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball” — is not obvious. Yet any flaw in the VAR’s reasoning is largely irrelevant because the on-field assistant referee’s call carried primacy.
This is not to say Webb was wrong to say the decision was “not unreasonable.” There are arguable grounds to disallow the goal. But it is reasonable to question whether the goal should have been reduced to an instant verdict about Robertson being in Donnarumma’s line of vision, especially when that assertion came from an official positioned at a poor angle to make such a judgment.
What the officials said, in full…
Assistant referee: Robertson’s in line of vision, right in front of the keeper. He’s ducked under the ball. He’s very, very close to him. I think he’s line of vision. I think he’s (Donnarumma) been impacted, mate.
Referee: Ok so offside then.
Assistant referee: I think offside.
Referee: On-field decision is offside.
VAR: Checking the on-field decision of offside against Andy Robertson. Delay, delay.
So you’ve got clear offside position.
AVAR: I agree with the on-field decision. I think it’s offside. It’s a clear, obvious action which clearly impacts on the goalkeeper.
VAR: Chris, it’s Michael. Confirming the on-field decision of offside against Andy Robertson. He is in an offside position, very close to the goalkeeper and makes an obvious movement directly in front of him. Check complete, offside.