During the Tottenham Hotspur versus Nottingham Forest match, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system experienced a temporary outage due to a fire alarm at Stockley Park.
Referee John Brooks and his assistant Dan Robathan were required to leave their posts at the Stockley Park officiating center in West London during halftime.
Nottingham Forest, managed by Nuno Espirito Santo, entered halftime with a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood.
As the second half was set to commence, officials were still unable to re-enter the Stockley Park building.
The Premier League issued a brief statement confirming the situation: “Due to a fire alarm at the VAR Hub at Stockley Park, VAR will be unavailable for this match until further notice.”
The technology was offline for approximately eight minutes in the second half before normal service was restored.
A subsequent statement from the Premier League announced: “VAR is now operational again.”
Fortunately, the system was not needed for any critical decisions during its brief period of unavailability.
Fans reacted humorously to the situation on social media. One fan commented, “We experienced freedom for about a minute there.”
Another added, “Whoever triggered the fire alarm deserves a pay raise.”
Prior to the incident, VAR`s semi-automated offside technology had already been utilized at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Chris Wood had a goal disallowed for offside earlier in the game, but later scored a valid goal from an Anthony Elanga cross seven minutes after the disallowed one.
Tottenham showed improvement in the second half, with Richarlison scoring a goal late in the game.
However, Tottenham could not equalize, and Nottingham Forest secured a 2-1 victory, enhancing their aspirations for Champions League qualification.