In the NBA, Lakers superstar LeBron James suffered a defeat due to a referee's error, and although the NBA officials confirmed after the game that there was a missed call, the situation could not be undone, and the president of the NBA League admitted that it was quite difficult to deal with this kind of missed call. Meanwhile, in the soccer world, Lee Mason, the VAR referee of the English Premier League, announced today that he will end his 15-year long career as a referee because he "forgot" to draw the offside line and other mistakes.
Looking back at last week's Premier League table toppers, the Arsenal drew 1-1 with Brentford. In this crucial match, Mason Lee failed to spot Christian Nørgaard's offside action, leading to his assist to Ivan Toney for the equalizer. After the match, the Professional Game Match Officials of England (PGMOL) apologized for the error and admitted it.
However, Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta expressed his extreme displeasure: "We are very angry and disappointed. This is not a simple oversight, but a huge, serious problem. He clearly did not fully understand his job and was not fully prepared. This is simply unacceptable, I must say. It cost us two points and there is no way to get them back." The Arsenal are currently on a three-game winless streak in the league, with a goal difference disadvantage leaving them in second place, and will face Aston Villa tonight.
PGMOL has today released a statement announcing that Mason Lee has left the refereeing organization and will not be refereeing in the Premier League in the future. The 51-year-old veteran referee has been enforcing in the Premier League for 15 years and has been involved in 287 matches. He last enforced in the 2021-22 season, and this season he served as a VAR referee. However, he lost his job as a result of the high-profile blunder, having been removed from Premier League matches twice before, most recently in September last year.
