Why VAR took so long to award Newcastle's goal against Chelsea

3 hours ago 31

Need to know

Newcastle faced an anxious wait to have their second goal against Chelsea confirmed by VAR after an issue with the technology

Andy Madley and his officials were unable to call on semi-automated offside technology during Newcastle United's draw with Chelsea(Image: (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images))

Here is everything you need to know on why it took so long for VAR to check Newcastle's second goal in the Premier League clash against Chelsea...

Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) Failure: The Premier League confirmed that (SAOT) was "down" or suffered "technical issues" during the check of Nick Woltemade’s goal.
Manual Intervention: Because the automated system failed, VAR Peter Bankes and Assistant VAR Eddie Smart were forced to manually construct offside lines to determine the decision.
Lengthy Delay: This manual process resulted in a significant delay of several minutes, causing frustration among fans at St James' Park.
Onside Decision: Despite the technical glitch, the goal was eventually awarded after the manual check confirmed Woltemade was in an onside position.
SAOT Origin: The articles note that SAOT (which uses 30 in-stadium cameras and player tracking) was introduced to the Premier League in April 2024 to speed up decision-making—an objective that failed in this specific instance due to the technical outage.
Other incidents: There were several other incidents in the 2-2 draw with Trevoh Chalobah avoiding punishment for a risky challenge on Anthony Gordon inside the penalty area. A total of 10 yellow cards were shown with six Chelsea players booked which will result in a fine