Video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made and are they correct?
This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.
Referee: Farai Hallam
VAR: Darren England
Time: 37 minutes
Incident: Possible handball by Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera
What happened: Man City attacker Omar Marmoush cut back inside the Wolves defender. The ball seemingly struck the outstretched arm of Mosquera. Referee Hallam waved play on.
VAR decision: VAR Darren England, following a long check, deemed that the Wolves defender’s left arm was in an unnatural position and recommended an on-field review for a possible penalty for handball. Referee Hallam, on his Premier League debut, went to the monitor and decided to stick with his original decision that no handball offense had been committed by the Wolves defender.
Verdict / Insight: It is an unusual scenario that a referee goes to the monitor and backs their own decision, for Hallam to do that on his Premier League debut, takes courage and belief.
Hallam is the first Premier League referee this season to stick with his own penalty call after going to the monitor. However, the debate will be had as to whether the correct outcome was reached.
In my opinion, this was a correct intervention by VAR. The pictures clearly show that the Wolves defender’s arm was in an unnatural position when the ball struck.
The defender’s arm was in an expected position until the ball was flicked backwards by the City attacker Marmoush — Mosquera’s arm then clearly move outwards, away from his body and is completely outstretched.
This incident met the following criteria of a handball offense in law:
• A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalized.
There seems to be a level of discussion around this as an incident, mainly focused on Hallam’s brave decision to stick to his on-field decision on his Premier League debut, however, the most important element is the refereeing team ultimately reaching the correct decision, and this was a clear handball offense when considering the current guidance and interpretation of a handball offense — a penalty award should have been the outcome.
