Unsurprisingly, the contentious penalty call against Newcastle United during the weekend was shown on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch segment.
Ref Watch’s focus this week was bound to be the Magpies’ penalty against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
At the stroke of halftime, Wolves striker Hwang Hee-Chan was found to have fouled Fabian Schär in the box. Following a protracted VAR review, the on-field ruling was upheld, and Newcastle was given a penalty kick, which Callum Wilson converted to give Eddie Howe’s team a 2-1 lead.
The decision was deemed not to be a clear and obvious error
Ever since, there has been a lot of debate over how long it took VAR to recognize the wrong decision.
Given that the goal of VAR is to reverse evident and glaring errors, the manner in which it was delivered makes sense. In actuality, even though it is abundantly evident that there was never a penalty, it is reasonable to believe that a penalty was called given what the on-field referee witnessed in real time.
Therefore, the decision is upheld because the referee did not make a “clear and obvious error.” Enough to confuse you?
Former refereree Dermot Gallagher was unconvinced
Dermot Gallagher, a former Premier League referee, was direct in his evaluation on Sky Sports, stating that he did not think it was a penalty.
“Not a penalty for me. I can see why the referee gave it. I can fully understand why the referee gave it but when you look at it again you only have to see one replay and you knew that it wasn’t not a foul. The fact that it was looked at so many times … I just can’t see a foul.”
"How that has not been overturned is ASTONISHING" 🚨
Passionate Ref Watch analysis of Hwang Hee-chan's challenge on Fabian Schär 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/i2XaF0nD1U
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 30, 2023
We don’t believe anyone is claiming it was a penalty, but the fact remains that VAR is only supposed to correct obvious referee errors. Nobody would have questioned Anthony Taylor’s decision if VAR had not been used because the incident appeared to be a penalty.
Or are we just making excuses at this point?
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