The Premiership Referees’ Association (PGMOL) announced that, from this season, Premier League referees will have to reveal which team they support so that there is no conflict of interest if they are appointed to a match where a supporter club is present.
Premier League referees will have to openly disclose which team they support to avoid discrepancies such as the one that occurred last season, when Nottingham Forest accused a VAR referee of being a Luton Town supporter.
Forest issued a statement in April claiming that they had warned that Stuart Attwell, the VAR referee in the defeat to Everton, was a fan of Luton Town, Forest’s relegation rivals. In fact, the club itself issued a statement after learning of the body’s decision:
At the meeting, Howard Webb, head of the Premiership referees’ association (PGMOL), said referees will have to declare “any specific interests” going into this season and if anything changes during the course of the season.
“We will look at it and make adjustments if we think there might be a conflict of interest if you declare yourself a fan of a particular team. If you have played for a club, too. We are trying to get more players to move into refereeing, so it’s something we have to work on. If you have personal connections with people who work for clubs, that’s something we have to work on. We’ll make an assessment of all that and take that into account when we’re appointing referees,” Webb explained.