Premier League match officials, Chelsea and Brighton
30 August 2026
Premier League officials worked the entire second half of Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Brighton without their normal radio communications after a technical failure. Referee Michael Oliver, his assistants, the fourth official and VAR could no longer communicate normally.
The equipment was abandoned because crowd noise was not being suppressed, making speech difficult to hear. VAR Andrew Kitchen continued checks using messages sent to Oliver’s watch and retained radio contact with the fourth official as a backup system.