This archive report was first published on 12 September 2019.
On September 12, 2019, Premier League referees' chief Mike Riley addressed the use of video assistant referees (VARs) in the Premier League at a meeting of top-flight club chairmen in London.
According to Riley, four VAR mistakes have been made in the Premier League this season, including a decision not to disallow Fabian Schar's equaliser for Newcastle against Watford due to a handball by Isaac Hayden, and Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans avoiding a red card for an apparent stamp on Bournemouth's Callum Wilson.
The other two errors were the decision not to award Manchester City a penalty when Bournemouth's Jefferson Lerma fouled David Silva and West Ham not getting a spot-kick after Sebastien Haller was brought down by Norwich's Tom Trybull.
Riley, the managing director of the elite refereeing body, acknowledged that the VAR system has its limitations, stating, "If you look at the four match rounds 227 incidents have been checked, out of that we've changed six decisions, (and) we think we should have changed 10 in total."
He added, "That gives you the scale of where VAR can help and add value to the game. But it also demonstrates that this is still about refereeing a game of Premier League football on the pitch."
