Lee Mason is no longer available as VAR. The former referee, who was active as a video referee until last weekend, will immediately leave the PGMOL, the highest arbitration body in English professional football. It is a direct result of the Premier League match Arsenal – Brentford (1-1), where Ivan Toney’s goal was wrongly approved by Mason, among others. The striker’s goal led to a loss of points for Arsenal, which cannot really afford that in the battle for the English title.
Eight minutes after Leandro Trossard had put Arsenal ahead, Toney scored the equalizer. The striker was not in an offside position, but declarant Christian Nörgaard was. However, Mason neglected to draw the lines that would indicate that the goal should not have counted. The goal therefore stood and Arsenal could not recover. Afterwards, it led to fierce criticism from Mikel Arteta, the manager of the Gunners. “We ended the game, after analyzing all the evidence, with enormous anger and disappointment,” said the Spaniard. “This was not human error, this was about not understanding your job and that is not acceptable, sorry. This will cost us two points that we will not get back.”
PGMOL director Howard Webb, in 2010 still referee during the World Cup final of the Netherlands against Spain, traveled to the Emirates Stadium this week to explain Mason’s error. The former top arbitrator admitted that there was a human error and apologized for the incident. The PGMOL itself has announced that Mason has left the organization by mutual consent. “Lee was a Premier League referee for 15 years, in charge of 287 matches. We would like to thank Lee for his commitment to the professional game and wish him well for the future.”
The incident at Arsenal was not the only one from last weekend. In the Crystal Palace – Brighton & Hove Albion match, a goal by Pervis Estupiñán was wrongly disallowed after VAR John Brookes placed the lines at the wrong player. Estupiñán, who was therefore not offside, saw his goal rejected just before half-time. After the break, Brighton still took the lead, although it only lasted six minutes: 1-1. Webb traveled south after his visit to North London, to also explain to Brighton that there was human error.