Forty-one referees refused to take the field in Queensland’s Harbour State Premier League on Monday after an automated offside system overturned a goal in 12 seconds, stopping six fixtures and leaving one match suspended for 38 minutes. At the centre of the protest was Patrícia Pacheco, a 39-year-old former goalkeeper who has spent 11 seasons officiating and once helped label footage for the same system.
The stoppage began at Tallowbank Ground in Brisbane when the system ruled that a River Quay forward had been offside by 4 centimetres. Referee Pacheco had allowed the goal; after the video review, the decision was reversed. Players walked off at the officials’ request, and referees at five other grounds followed. The league later confirmed that all six matches were delayed or paused.
The call that stopped play
Pacheco, who grew up in Toowoomba and played amateur football before taking up refereeing, has built a reputation for calm, exacting decisions. She said she did not object to video review itself, but to a tool whose margin of error was never clearly explained to match officials. “We were told the machine would assist us. Nobody said it could overrule us without showing us how sure it was,” she said.
The disputed frame showed the attacker’s shoulder beyond the last defender, but the camera angle was partly blocked by another player. The league’s review feed displayed a single red line and a final offside ruling; it did not show a confidence range. After the match paused, Pacheco and two other officials stood beside the touchline while players waited on the pitch.
We were told the machine would assist us. Nobody said it could overrule us without showing us how sure it was.
Patrícia Pacheco, referee
A past job comes back
The surprise behind Pacheco’s protest is that she once helped prepare the technology now at the heart of the dispute. In 2022, she took a short-term contract with Narrowline Metrics, the system’s supplier, tagging 4,200 match clips to identify players and offside positions. She said she believed the work was for a coaching tool, and was never told her annotations would support decisions in live matches.
Robin Petrov, the league’s operations director, said the provider had not told the league that former referees were among the clip annotators. He confirmed the system’s ruling was treated as final under this season’s rules, but said officials had not received a published error estimate. Narrowline Metrics said by email that its software is “an aid to consistent decisions” and that it would review Monday’s footage with the league.
Pacheco says the walkout will continue unless referees can see the camera view, challenge a ruling and receive a clear account of the system’s uncertainty. The league has suspended automated offside decisions for the next round, due on Saturday, and will use on-field officials alone. For Pacheco, the issue is personal: she says she helped teach the system to spot a line, but was shut out when it began drawing one over her judgment.
