Premier League Panel Issues Final Ruling On Declan Rice’s Red Card Against Brighton

The Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel has unanimously supported referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to send off Declan Rice in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Aug. 31.

Rice was already on a yellow card when he got into a confrontation with Joël Veltman and committed a foul, giving away a free kick. As Veltman took the kick, Rice intentionally knocked the ball off the pitch with his foot.

Referee Kavan issued a second yellow card to Arsenal for delaying the restart of play.

The findings, seen state that “Rice knows what he’s doing, it’s a gentle touch but once the referee sees it, he has no choice.”

The KMI panel has five members, made up of three former players and/or coaches, plus one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL.

Established at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, this independent system aims to evaluate decision-making without solely depending on the perspectives of PGMOL or the clubs involved.

Its purpose is to offer impartial assessment of significant match incidents, while also respecting the referee’s initial judgment in subjective cases. The review considers both the laws of the game and the Premier League’s interpretation.

There was “unanimous agreement” among the five on the KMI panel “that the actions of Rice were clear, deliberate and impactful. Therefore, the referee was correct to send Rice off for a second caution for delaying the restart.”

The panel also supported the decision of referee Jarred Gillett not to show a second yellow card to Crystal Palace midfielder Will Hughes at Chelsea on Sept. 1.

Hughes had pulled back Cole Palmer on the edge of the box, but on a split 3-2 vote, the panel said, “It is a holding offense, but it doesn’t feel like it’s stopping a promising attack due to the Palace defender positioned immediately in front of Palmer.”

So far this season, there has been little real controversy in the Premier League, with only one VAR decision ruled to be incorrect when Tim Robinson intervened to disallow Dango Ouattara’s injury-time “winner” for handball in AFC Bournemouth’s game against Newcastle United on Aug. 25.

Although there have been no additional VAR errors, the panel has determined that there were two penalty situations on the pitch that were incorrect, yet did not reach the threshold for a “clear and obvious error” warranting intervention.

Referee Tony Harrington should not have awarded a penalty to West Ham United against Aston Villa, while Ipswich Town should have received a penalty in their match against Manchester City.

In the analysis of 84 key match incidents reviewed by VAR during the first three matchdays, nine out of a possible 420 votes indicated that the video assistant made an error.

Notably, five of those votes were part of a unanimous decision stating that Bournemouth’s goal should have counted.