Referees

VAR explained: Mistaken identity

17 Sep 2020
Tomas Soucek

Former referee Chris Foy discuses how VAR will help should the referee penalise the wrong player

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The 2020/21 Premier League season has brought some new Laws, as well as clarifications as to how the Laws will be applied, and the opening weekend provided some early examples.

Former Premier League referee Chris Foy explains further the decisions made. 

Mistaken identity

In the event that the referee awards a yellow or red card to the wrong player, the VAR will advise as to the correct player to be disciplined.

Incident: West Ham United v Newcastle United: West Ham's Tomas Soucek is shown a yellow for a challenge on Allan Saint-Maximin. The foul was committed by Andriy Yarmolenko so the VAR advises the referee to reassign the caution to the Ukrainian. As this is a factual decision, the RRA is not needed. 

Foy's view: We rarely see this occur, but it highlights how VAR can easily correct an on-field error.

Also in this series

Part 1 Handball law
Part 2 Delaying the flag for offside
Part 3 Greater use of RRA
Part 5 Incorrect restarts

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