Lee Mason dropped by Premier League after Newcastle United VAR blunder

Lee Mason has been dropped for this weekend’s round of Premier League matches following his VAR decision that led to Newcastle United’s disallowed goal against Crystal Palace.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The call was labelled one of the ‘worst’ VAR blunders since its inception in the Premier League in 2019 as Tyrick Mitchell’s own goal was ruled out due to a foul on Vicente Guaita by Joe Willock despite the Newcastle midfielder being pushed into the Palace goalkeeper.

Mason was the video assistant referee for the match and intervened to prompt Michael Salisbury to review the goal and rule it out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The incident has led to Newcastle United lodging an official complaint to the Premier League, who have looked into the incident with the assistance of the referees’ body PGMOL.

Referee Lee Mason during (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)Referee Lee Mason during (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Referee Lee Mason during (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Read More
Newcastle United's owners close to finalising big money move that could rival Ma...

The Professional Game Match Officials’ Board acknowledged the incident and subtly implied that an error was made.

PGMOL said in a statement: “PGMOL acknowledge the incidents to disallow the goals in the Chelsea v West Ham and Newcastle v Crystal Palace fixtures.

“We will fully co-operate and collaborate with the Premier League and their request to review these two particular incidents, using the outcome as part of the ongoing assessment of weekly performances and the development of our match officials going forward.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since the statement, it has been confirmed that Mason will not be officiating any Premier League match this weekend while Salisbury has been moved to VAR duty for Saturday’s match between Southampton and Brentford (3pm kick-off).

Newcastle are away to fellow VAR victims West Ham United on Sunday (2pm kick-off) with Craig Pawson as referee and Paul Tierney VAR.