After leaving the referees’ body PGMOL by mutual consent, Lee Mason will no longer be officiating games in the Premier League.
The 51-year-old who has been referring in the top flight for over 15 years departs days after his mistake during Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brentford earlier this month.
Arsenal VAR decision
Mason, who was the Video Assistant referee during the match failed to disallow Ivan Toney’s equalizer in the 74th minute after it later appeared that Christian Norgaard was offside leading to the goal.
The decision would later have a massive impact on the Premier League title race as it allowed reigning Champions Manchester City to close the gap on Arsenal. City also went top of the standings in midweek when they beat the Gunners at the Emirates on Wednesday.
PGMOL statement
A statement from PGMOL read, “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.”
PGMOL’s Chief Referring Officer Howard Webb later contacted Arsenal to acknowledge and explain the error.
However, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta didn’t buy the apology claiming, “It wasn’t human error, it was not understanding your job. It cost Arsenal two points that are not going to be restored so we are going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the league.”
Mason had also been responsible for several VAR errors this season. This includes the decision that led to Arsenal’s opening goal against Manchester United in September which was also disallowed.
Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images
