The referee Chris Kavanagh will not officiate in the next round of Premier League fixtures after a series of high‑profile errors during the FA Cup tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle on Saturday.
Kavanagh has been stood down by Professional Game Match Officials, alongside one of his two assistants at Villa Park, Nick Greenhalgh. The second assistant, Gary Beswick, will run the line at Nottingham Forest v Liverpool on Sunday.
The trio came under intense scrutiny after Newcastle’s 3-1 victory, with three apparent errors visible to those watching at home. Tammy Abraham should have been ruled offside for Villa’s opening goal, a high tackle by Lucas Digne on Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy was not adjudged to be reckless, and Digne clearly handled inside the Villa penalty area, only for Kavanagh to award a free-kick outside the box instead of a penalty.
Kavanagh’s showing has prompted a new round of debate regarding the value of video assistant refereeing. The FA Cup uses video refereeing technology only from the fifth round and the Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe, suggested after the Villa tie that match officials had begun to avoid taking difficult decisions because they are accustomed to VAR being there to correct any errors.
Asked whether referees were hiding behind VAR, Howe said: “There’s an argument to say that, because when VAR is there, there’s always a: ‘Well, I won’t give that, but let’s check it.’ I think then your decision-making maybe isn’t as sharp as it may normally have to be.”
Howe said he was torn over the use of VAR because of the impact that delayed decisions can have on spontaneity. “That joy that you get in that moment, I still really love, and VAR takes it away,” he said. “But then on the other side, I was wishing there was VAR on the first goal against us, and probably throughout that game.”
