VAR officials Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus are not appointed for this weekend’s Premier League matches, according to reports. The decision affects their expected involvement as video assistant referee personnel for the Manchester derby.
The move is attributed to the Premier League refereeing body Pro Ref. Its chief refereeing officer, Howard Webb, and the management team make the appointment decision, the sources say. One outlet also links the latest change to Pro Ref’s previous admission of an “error,” indicating the non-appointment follows prior scrutiny of VAR processes. Other details of the earlier incident are not specified in the available excerpts.
Overall, the reporting aligns on the same outcome—Donohue and Antrobus are omitted from this weekend’s VAR assignments—and the role of Pro Ref leadership in making appointments. Differences, where present in the excerpts, relate mainly to how the decision is framed in connection with a prior acknowledged error rather than on new match or disciplinary information.
