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PGMOL had a difficult weekend in the Premier League with the refereeing body first admitting that Brighton and Hove Albion should have had a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur and now assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis being investigated for an alleged elbow on Liverpool’s Andy Robertson.
Hatzidakis will not be involved in any game as the FA investigates contact made with Robertson’s chin at the end of the first half of Liverpool’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Arsenal on Sunday which angered the Scotland international who was booked by referee Paul Tierney.
“PGMOL will not be appointing Constantine Hatzidakis to fixtures in any of the competition it serves whilst The FA investigates the incident involving the assistant referee and Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson at Anfield,” read a PGMOL statement.
Has this happened before?
Player-official clashes have happened before but it is usually the player in the position of aggressor, most recently with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic getting an eight-game ban for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in their FA Cup defeat at Manchester United a recent example.
A pertinent example of referee on player aggression came in France back in January of 2018 when referee Tony Chapron attempted to kick Nantes’ Diego Carlos after an accidental collision during a Ligue 1 game against Paris Saint-Germain.
The French official tripped after colliding with the Brazilian and attempted to kick out at him before showing him a second yellow card to dismiss him. Chapron was immediately suspended by the French Soccer League (LFP) and faced a disciplinary hearing which banned him for six months and resulted in his retirement.
What does this mean?
Essentially, Hatzidakis will kept away from duty until the investigation has been completed with a decision taken and punishment meted out — if deemed necessary. This might well mean that Hatzidakis does not officiate again this season given that we are already into April. Robertson might also face retroactive action if any of his behavior is found to have provoked Hatzidakis.
What are the consequences?
There are not many prior examples in the Premier League and Ref Support UK want to see Hatzidakis held responsible for his actions but also insist that the rules need changing to prevent players from crowding officials.
“There are no clear boundaries, therefore, we believe there should be an exclusion zone of two meters around match officials to prevent aggressive contact,” said CEO Martin Cassidy. “If this zone is breached the referee can issue an in-game sanction.
“That said, match officials are the guardian of standards and must also be held accountable if found guilty of similar behavior towards a player or any participant of the game. Any sanction issued to a match official must reflect the same sanctions issued to player and participant.”
