Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) the body responsible for officiating football games in England has released the full VAR audio between the VAR officials and referee Stuart Artwell. This was in the controversial game between Newcastle and Arsenal at St James Park.
The Magpies scored a controversial goal that could have been ruled out by four incidents but the officials decided for it to stand. There was a possibility of the ball going out of play. This was however cleared as they didn’t have enough angles and technology if it had gone out.
Then came the foul of Joelinton on his fellow Brazilian, Gabriel Magalhaes. This too was cleared. The officials said that despite the Newcastle man having his hands on the Arsenal defender, there was no reason for him to go flying.
Besides, they were also not clear whether the ball hit Joelinton’s hand before Anthony Gordon bundled it in the net. They went ahead to clear the Englishman’s offside position despite him being ahead of David Raya.
The incident had Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta fuming and calling the incident embarrassing. Besides, the inconsistencies by these officials have seen fans and other football stakeholders express different opinions.
