To protect colleague referee Antony Taylor from “grief,” VAR official Mike Dean refused to overrule an erroneous on-field judgement during a Premier League game.
After heated comments from retired official Mike Dean, referee chiefs have defended their use of VAR.
Dean enraged Premier League supporters on Thursday when he admitted he declined to fix an error as the video assistant referee because he didn’t want to cause “grief” to the on-field referee, Anthony Taylor. Dean and Taylor are really close.
Last season, the event in question occurred during a 2-2 tie between Chelsea and Tottenham. Cristian Romero grabbed Marc Cucurella’s hair and dragged the Blues defender to the ground shortly before Harry Kane’s equaliser.
Chelsea fans are outraged by Taylor’s refusal to remove Romero and even more so by Dean’s admissions. The event has called into doubt the integrity of Premier League referees, and it may take a long time for PGMOL to regain that faith.
In a statement from the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), a spokesperson said: “VARs undergo extensive training with the focus centred entirely around effectively working with the on-field team of officials to rectify clear and obvious errors.
“When VARs identify a clear and obvious error by the on-field team and match officials, they should intervene and recommend a review by the referee. We strongly refute any suggestions that VARs do not intervene, for whatever reason, when they have identified a clear and obvious error.”
Dean revealed all on Up Front with Simon Jordan. He said: “I missed the stupid hair pull at Chelsea versus Tottenham which was pathetic from my point of view. It’s one of them where if I had my time again, what would I do? I’d send Anthony to the screen.
“I think I knew if I sent him to the screen… he’s warned both managers, he’s had a hell of a game, it’s been such a tough game from start to finish.” ‘I just didn’t want to send you to the screen after what happened in the game,’ I said afterwards to Anthony.
“I didn’t want to send him up because he’s a friend as well as a referee, and I don’t think I wanted to send him up because I didn’t want him to get any more grief than he already had.”
“Anthony, he is big and bald and ugly enough to know if he is going to the screen he is going to the screen for a reason. If someone pulls their hair now it’s dead easy. It’s just a brainwave by me, a really bad call by me, and it kind of affected me as VAR going forward.”
Dean retired as a referee in May 2022 to become a VAR official. PGMOL dropped him after the draw between Chelsea and Tottenham, with Dean admitting his mistake days later. Yet this is the first time he’s admitted to making that mistake on purpose.
