"Incompetent" Lee Mason axed as VAR official

Lee Mason's error in the Arsenal vs Brentford game has led to his dismissal from the VAR post as announced by the PGMOL. (Photo credit: BBC)

Lee Mason’s time as a Video Assistant Referee is over after he left his role on Friday following his costly error of the weekend.

Former premier league referee Lee Mason had admitted to his error of allowing a blatantly offside goal to stand for Brentford against Arsenal over the weekend which has now drastically affected the league standing and he has now left the job by mutual consent.

Arsenal led 1-0 before Ivan Toney headed home from close range but replays show an obvious offside in the build-up to the goal and Mason was quoted to have said he forgot to draw the line that would have confirmed the offside.

Mikel Arteta was left furious and he disagreed it was a human error; the Arsenal manager maintained it was simply a case of someone not knowing his job and the PGMOL reached out to Arsenal to apologize while taking measures to ensure such doesn’t happen in the future.

"PGMOL can confirm that Video Assistant Referee Lee Mason has departed the organization by mutual consent," a statement from Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the body responsible for match officials across English football.

"Lee was a Premier League referee for 15 years and oversaw 287 top-flight matches during that time, with his last coming during the closing stages of the 2021/22 season.

"His full career in the professional game saw the 51-year-old officiate in over 500 fixtures after he progressed to the Football League in 1998. We would like to thank Lee for his dedicated service to the professional game and wish him all the best for the future."

Lee Mason was the VAR that annulled Arsenal’s opening goal against Manchester United in September, one that was later confirmed to be wrong among five others but the latest one that now has a huge bearing on the title race proves to be the final straw.