Lee Mason, a Video Assistant Referee (VAR), has resigned from his position “by mutual consent” following the error that lost Arsenal a victory against Brentford last weekend.
Last Saturday’s London derby saw the Gunners beaten to a 1-1 draw, though Ivan Toney’s equalizer ought to have been ruled off.
Christian Norgaard poked the ball over the goal face, but Toney headed it from close range even though he had been offside during the play.
Instead, a VAR review of a different incident led to the goal because Mason, the game’s technical coordinator, missed Norgaard’s slight offside slip.
Mason was not assigned to a game for the following weekend after The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organization in charge of referees in England, later stated it was a “serious error .”
Then, on Friday, PGMOL announced that Mason had resigned from his job effective immediately.
A statement said:”PGMOL can confirm that Video Assistant Referee Lee Mason has departed the organisation by mutual consent.
“Lee was a Premier League referee for 15 years and oversaw 287 top-flight matches during that time, with his last coming during the closing stages of the 2021-22 season.
“His full career in the professional game saw the 51-year-old officiate in over 500 fixtures after he progressed to the Football League in 1998.
“We would like to thank Lee for his dedicated service to the professional game and wish him all the best for the future.”
Mason has made many high-profile mistakes this season, including disallowing Tyrick Mitchell’s own goal against Crystal Palace in September because he thought Joe Willock had fouled Vicente Guaita in the build-up.
