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Another week, another contentious decision in English football.
This time, it happened in the FA Cup replay between Championship side Bristol City and West Ham. Five minutes in, and with the home side already a goal ahead, referee Darren England failed to award even a foul for what was likely a tackle worthy of a red card by Bristol midfielder Joe Williams on West Ham striker Danny Ings.
This latest blunder cannot be blamed on the VAR – it isn’t used at this stage of the competition, but it’s not easy to understand how the referee could’ve taken what Williams had done as a fair challenge. Furthermore, Darren England is already known for being involved most directly in one of the biggest officiating blunders the game has seen since the introduction of the VAR.
Earlier this season, England was in charge of the VAR as Liverpool were denied a completely legitimate goal by Luis Diaz against Tottenham Hotspur, and that after the Merseysiders were already a man down as England instructed on-field referee Simon Hooper to review his booking of Curtis Jones and upgrade it to a red card. Most bizarrely, what Jones did was slightly milder than Williams’ tackle on Ings, though very similar.
Communication between the people sitting in the VAR room and the on-field referee appears to be the biggest problem. When Darren England and Simon Hooper made their infamous blunder back in September, which incidentally still marks the only defeat Liverpool have suffered in the league to date, England believed Hooper and his assistants had awarded the goal and used the expression “check complete”, which meant they agreed with the on-field decision. How they could’ve missed the linesman’s flag going up for (non-existent) offside and Hooper signaling a Spurs free-kick, rather than a kick-off from the centre of the pitch, remains a mystery.
And once the play had restarted, the protocol prevented them from interfering and having Hooper correct the…
Source link : https://www.soccernews.com/questionable-refereeing-continues-to-threaten-football-integrity-in-england/365628/
Author : Veselin Trajkovic
Publish date : 2024-01-17 22:07:48
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