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#Post#: 102408--------------------------------------------------
Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v Notti
ngham Forest
By: TA_Ref Date: March 5, 2026, 8:51 am
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HTML https://youtu.be/-ByUHJmAhrI?si=x5WE2X7RVqQdInwF
I’m surprised there’s been no thread about this yet myself.
Incident in question @ 1:47
Haaland knocks the ball past Sels and looks as if the goalkeeper
brings him down. When I saw this for the first time, I was
astonished that no penalty was given onfield and was equally
surprised when no review was recommended. I have seen much less
given as penalties this season and during others so from a
refereeing head on, I couldn’t believe no penalty was awarded.
But being a fan, I think this decision is correct.
People have disagreed with me on here about attackers 1 on 1
with keepers (and there’s no issue with that) and I’m sure
people will disagree with me again here. Haaland gets to the
ball first and knocks it past Sels, no problem. The problem I
have is, in my opinion, Haaland does not change his direction of
travel and if anything moves his right leg to initiate contact
with Sels. If Haaland looked like he attempted to move towards
the ball, then I’d say penalty all day. He simply does not and
with Sels pulling out of the challenge as well, I think this
decision is spot on.
So I think England got this spot on, but I could almost
guarantee a similar incident will occur later on in the season
and the penalty will be given.
#Post#: 102410--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Marvin Grapevine Date: March 5, 2026, 9:07 am
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This again underlines my frustration with VAR. 9 times out of 10
it's given as a penalty, and VAR backs up the decision. This
time, the ref doesn't give it and, predictably, VAR backs up the
decision.
This has already happened multiple times this season, albeit
with defenders, and penalties were given and upheld. Leeds
player dragged his leg to initiate contact with the Chelsea
defender, and Dowman of Arsenal did it egregiously against
Leeds.
We are told that players don't have to alter their course. If
that is the case then it should be a penalty (as should Maatsen
on Reece James in the game last night, which has had very little
attention).
Again, VAR is just a mess, and the inherent inconsistency on
subjective decisions means it can never work.
#Post#: 102411--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: thesensibleone Date: March 5, 2026, 9:17 am
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Well done Mr England and Mr Harrington for having the guts to do
what other colleagues of yours haven’t been able to do in ages.
#Post#: 102419--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Microscopist Date: March 5, 2026, 11:34 am
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Sometimes ‘buying’ a foul is seen as legitimate, and often
praised as clever. The game has to decide whether simulation,
elaboration, or cleverly manufacturing a foul should become a
fair part of the game or not. If the penalty and red card
awarded favouring United in the Fulham game is not
retrospectively sanctioned then simulation is fair game.
Moving on, if Mr Gallagher’s view that the Rhodri penalty claim
was a foul by Rhodri then in my view he should be put out to
pasture. Whether it was a penalty or not, nobody really knows.
#Post#: 102422--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Tonydent Date: March 5, 2026, 12:21 pm
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That’s never a penalty in a million years. Player goes looking
for it.
#Post#: 102424--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: El Referee Date: March 5, 2026, 12:47 pm
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[quote author=Marvin Grapevine
link=topic=7784.msg102410#msg102410 date=1772723228]
This again underlines my frustration with VAR. 9 times out of 10
it's given as a penalty, and VAR backs up the decision. This
time, the ref doesn't give it and, predictably, VAR backs up the
decision.
Again, VAR is just a mess, and the inherent inconsistency on
subjective decisions means it can never work.
[/quote]
I hate VAR more than the next person. Maybe even more. But you
have to remember why VAR is there; Clear & Obvious errors.
I completely agree that there are some C&O errors that they
don’t get involved in, and others in which they get involved
when it isn’t. But for me, this one is definitely one I wouldn’t
want VAR getting involved in. As much as Sels definitely makes
contact with Haaland, I’m not fully convinced that the movement
of his right leg wasn’t done to ensure contact is made
Ps…..also really don’t rate Darren England!
#Post#: 102425--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: olliebcafc Date: March 5, 2026, 12:50 pm
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Neither are penalties. Not sure what the fuss is about..
#Post#: 102427--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Microscopist Date: March 5, 2026, 1:16 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=olliebcafc link=topic=7784.msg102425#msg102425
date=1772736659]
Neither are penalties. Not sure what the fuss is about..
[/quote]
The point is that this type of thing happens week in week out
and would generally be given as a foul (in both cases) but we
have to decide whether we really want to outlaw fabricated fouls
or not, if not false hurrah’s for the exceptions whilst blind
eyes are turned to the majority the dimply exacerbates the
problem. Either we stamp it out or we accept it as part of the
game.
#Post#: 102444--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Boz Date: March 5, 2026, 4:19 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Microscopist link=topic=7784.msg102419#msg102419
date=1772732043]
Sometimes ‘buying’ a foul is seen as legitimate, and often
praised as clever. The game has to decide whether simulation,
elaboration, or cleverly manufacturing a foul should become a
fair part of the game or not. If the penalty and red card
awarded favouring United in the Fulham game is not
retrospectively sanctioned then simulation is fair game.
Moving on, if Mr Gallagher’s view that the Rhodri penalty claim
was a foul by Rhodri then in my view he should be put out to
pasture. Whether it was a penalty or not, nobody really knows.
[/quote]
Worth pointing out that Mr Gallagher did think the Haaland
incident should have resulted in a penalty kick.
#Post#: 102448--------------------------------------------------
Re: Darren England (VAR : Tony Harrington) - Manchester City v N
ottingham Forest
By: Marvin Grapevine Date: March 6, 2026, 4:04 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=El Referee link=topic=7784.msg102424#msg102424
date=1772736443]
[quote author=Marvin Grapevine
link=topic=7784.msg102410#msg102410 date=1772723228]
This again underlines my frustration with VAR. 9 times out of 10
it's given as a penalty, and VAR backs up the decision. This
time, the ref doesn't give it and, predictably, VAR backs up the
decision.
Again, VAR is just a mess, and the inherent inconsistency on
subjective decisions means it can never work.
[/quote]
I hate VAR more than the next person. Maybe even more. But you
have to remember why VAR is there; Clear & Obvious errors.
I completely agree that there are some C&O errors that they
don’t get involved in, and others in which they get involved
when it isn’t. But for me, this one is definitely one I wouldn’t
want VAR getting involved in. As much as Sels definitely makes
contact with Haaland, I’m not fully convinced that the movement
of his right leg wasn’t done to ensure contact is made
Ps…..also really don’t rate Darren England!
[/quote]
But my issue with this is that you've seen very similar - and
much clearer - situations where the attacker has either not
avoided contact, or actually initiated it, and the VAR has stuck
with the penalty decision.
I go back to Max Dowman, who literally chucked his leg out to
kick the Leeds defender. It was a dive. It was cheating. Yet the
penalty was upheld. Same with Bogle of Leeds the other week. He
drags his left foot to make the contact, yet VAR cleared it as a
penalty within about 5 seconds. The inconsistency is
infuriating, and the reality is we would all disagree at certain
points as to what is and isn't a penalty.
If I think of 4 incidents that I have off the top of my head at
the moment, Haaland, Dowman, Bogle and James (from the Villa v
Chelsea game) I'd argue the two that weren't given as penalties
(Haaland, James) were much more clear fouls than Bogle and, in
particular, Dowman. So VAR isn't correcting minor errors, and
indeed is missing major ones quite routinely, whilst also
meaning that the inconsistency is baked in because they will try
to support the on field decision wherever possible. It's a
circle that can't be squared, and football would be so much
better without it for these subjective decisions.
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