English Premier League referee Mike Dean, who served as Video Assistant Referee, (VAR) has admitted that he made a mistake in the Match Tottenham versus Chelsea.
Dean posited that he ought to have called center referee, Anthony Taylor to review the hair-pulling incident that happened between Cristian Romero and Marc Cucurella which would have fetched the former a red card.
Recall that Anthony Taylor wasn’t called or compelled to check the pitch side monitor for review of the incident.
Harry Kane headed in from the resulting corner to equalize in stoppage time.
Dean admitted the guilt in his Dailymail column on Thursday
His statement reads: “No referee wants to be driving home from a game knowing they should have made a different call. Sometimes in hindsight, you realize you could have acted differently.
“For the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.
“I could not award a free kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds, I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act.
“I’ve since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself. The referee on the field always has the final say.
“It goes to show that no matter how experienced you are, and I’ve spent more than two decades as a Premier League official, you are always learning.
“It’s disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very good weekend from our officials.”
Mike Dean is a former English professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is based in Heswall, Wirral, and is a member of the Cheshire County Football Association