Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has openly criticized the decision to send off Arsenal’s Declan Rice during their match against Brighton and Hove Albion, arguing that referee Chris Kavanagh was “looking for trouble.” The controversial moment occurred when Kavanagh gave Rice a red card for allegedly delaying a restart by nudging the ball away from his opponent, Brighton’s Joel Veltman.
However, Halsey contends that the decision was not only incorrect under the rules but also inconsistently applied throughout the game.
According to Halsey, the ball was rolling when Veltman attempted to take the free-kick, which would have made the restart invalid under the Laws of the Game.
Therefore, he argues that the rule on delaying a restart should not have been applied to Rice in this context. “Kavanagh went looking for trouble and he found it,” Halsey explained in his column for The S*n. “A referee of his calibre at this level should not be sending players off for this.” Instead, Halsey believes Kavanagh should have managed the situation by speaking to both players, rather than issuing a red card. He suggests Rice should have received a final warning for flicking the ball away, and Veltman, who was fortunate to escape without punishment for kicking Rice, should have been similarly cautioned.
Halsey supports Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s post-match complaints about Kavanagh’s inconsistency, which were echoed by other players. Arteta expressed frustration over Kavanagh’s decision-making, pointing out that if the referee was enforcing the rules on Rice, he should have done the same earlier in the match with Brighton’s Joao Pedro. Pedro had kicked the ball back onto the pitch to delay an Arsenal throw-in, but Kavanagh chose not to punish him. “In the first half, there were two incidents, and nothing happened,” Arteta remarked. “By law, he can make that call, but by law, then he needs to make the next call, which is a red card.”
This inconsistency was also highlighted by Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka, who said, “We just want some consistency. Joao Pedro booted the ball halfway across the pitch in the first half and got nothing for it. Dec got the slightest touch and was sent off.”
The controversy around Kavanagh’s officiating in this match underscores ongoing concerns about inconsistent refereeing in the Premier League, particularly around how the rules are applied in different situations. Critics like Halsey argue that referees should aim for consistency and fairness in their decisions to maintain the integrity of the game. As it stands, decisions like Kavanagh’s only serve to frustrate players, managers, and fans alike, leading to further scrutiny of refereeing standards in top-flight football.
