Premier League officials are under the eye of the storm once more, and this time, serious allegations have been levelled against referees officiating in the Premier League.
Mark Halsey, a former referee in the EPL, has accused the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) – the refereeing body, of putting pressure on match officials to change decisions retrospectively.
Halsey’s claim has put serious threat to the position of the chief of the PGMOL and former Premier League referee, Mike Riley.
Halsey has laid the blame square on Riley in his book Added Time. Halsey’s spoken about one specific incident in 2011, when Stephen N’Zonzi of Blackburn elbowed Ryan Shawcross, a game which Halsey was officiating in. He saw the incident clearly and did not send N’Zonzi off, but the PGMOL were unhappy with the decision and pressurised Halsey to say that he had hadn’t seen the incident.
2011 N’Zonzi incident
Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, Halsey had this to say about that particular incident, “I saw the incident between Steven N’Zonzi and Ryan Shawcross and was happy it was not a red card. Then, when the assessor came in, he said there was no problem and that I’d refereed very well.”
“On Monday we had our get-together with referees at Warwick University and I was told, ‘Look at this’ and I was still happy with the decision. I was told to expect a call from the FA compliance department, which I duly got.”
He continued, “When I got the call I said I was still happy — but they said my bosses weren’t happy. I was under pressure to say I hadn’t seen it.”
Aguero’s red card brought about this discussion
The discussion came to the forefront after Sergio Aguero was retrospectively banned for 3 matches after it was noticed after the game that he had elbowed West Ham’s Winston Reid.
The referee in that game, Andre Marriner, had not noticed Aguero’s infringement, although he was very close to the incident, which may cause fans to wonder if he was forced to deny that he hadn’t seen the incident.
If what Mark Halsey says is true, it puts further pressure on Premier League officials who have been criticised for being inconsistent in their decision making. This accusation has already caused some uproar among pundits and fans, with many terming this as corruption and calling for an investigation.
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville waded into the discussion.
PGMOL Statement
The PGMOL released a statement on Saturday which said that referees are allowed to make their own decisions on the pitch and aren’t put under pressure to make any changes.
The statement read, “Match officials submit their reports, including critical incidents, directly to the FA. Match officials ensure that their reports are a full and accurate description of the incident. There is no pressure from the PGMOL to include or omit anything.”
Twitter had a funny take on this:
