PGMOL chief Howard Webb has urged referees to stamp down on dissent, starting with a new crackdown on players waving imaginary yellow cards.
It comes after a series of incidents in the Premier League, including when referee Simon Hooper failed to send off Destiny Udogie. The Tottenham defender gestured for a card while already on a yellow during a game against Liverpool back in September but was not booked.
However, other top-flight stars have been cautioned for waving for a yellow card this season. On the opening weekend against Chelsea, Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister went down after being fouled, but he was the one who ended up in the referees’ notebook as he waved his arms to try and get his opponent booked.
According to The Times, Webb told officials at a referees summit in Loughborough that the policy must be consistently enforced throughout the season and in future years. The 52-year-old did, however, praise the success of stamping down on abuse aimed at officials, with Webb highlighting that this season has seen zero incidents of mass confrontation, compared to eight at this stage last term.
It is also stated that Webb urged VAR to take more responsibility and step in when soft penalties are clearly wrong. This comes after Webb told VAR to challenge the on-field officials after Newcastle were awarded a penalty for a foul from Hwang Hee-chan on Fabian Schar.
“We said from the outset that VAR shouldn’t referee the game, it should reserve itself for clear situations when a clear error has occurred on the field and the VAR steps in to have that rectified,” Webb said last week.
“The VAR is looking for clear evidence of that error and weighing up the different considerations. For example, has the defender played the ball? Is there any contact between the players?”
Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot after Hwang appeared to catch Schar inside the area. However, replays suggested Hwang touched the ball first and Wolves were insistent that it wasn’t a penalty. VAR official Jarred Gillett didn’t overturn the decision, with Callum Wilson stepping up to score.
“In this situation we see that Hwang doesn’t actually play the ball, the ball is played onto him by Schar and then there’s contact between the two of them, but what the referee is seeing in real-time is Hwang bring that leg through, making contact with Schar,” Webb added.
“When we see the replay we can see that Hwang actually pulls his swing back a little bit, stops it from going right through, and Schar just brings his foot through and there’s contact.
“We feel that this is a situation that reaches the threshold for being a clear and obvious error, even though there’s contact and even though the ball isn’t played by Hwang.
“We’re asking the VARs, going forward with our instruction to have a look at it, to see where the considerations sit and if they don’t like the decision on the field, ask the referee what they saw and if it’s significantly different to what’s been shown on the video, then recommend a review so that the referee can go to the screen and look at it again for himself.
“The starting point that the VAR thinks it’s a clear error. In this situation the VAR didn’t quite get there and in our opinion should have done.”
