Before picking up the bragging rights against Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby, Arsenal supporters were left fuming with Premier League referee Chris Kavanagh for denying them a key player for the fixture.
“Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be. In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens.
“Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan (on the back of his leg), he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball. By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is red card so we play 10vs10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”
On the latest episode of Sky Sports ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’, the audio footage from the Rice red card was aired for the first time. The full transcript is below:
REF: Declan Rice has kicked the ball away.
AR1: Just knocked it away, he’s on a second…
REF: Going to have no choice mate.
AR1: It’s a second yellow mate.
REF: I know I’ve got no choice.
AR1: It’s delaying the restart.
REF: I know it is and I’m going to have to deal with it aren’t I? I know. Second yellow for me.
REF: I have no choice, he knocks the ball away.
VAR: Just watching this, show me this again. If you watch Veltman, he’s looking away, he’s looking to play the ball there. So for me that’s not a kick, are you happy with that? He’s looking to play the ball.
AVAR: No, agreed. Agreed.
VAR: That’s Declan Rice’s issue to be honest.
AVAR: Yeah, it’s not an act of violent conduct for me.
VAR: I am happy with that.
REF: He’s put me in an awful position. You did kick the ball away, you did. Dec you need to go. I don’t like it but he’s knocked the ball. Dec you need to go I am afraid.
VAR: Kav it’s all checked and cleared. It’s exactly as seen.
Despite Arteta’s anger at the time, the only person to blame in this scenario is Rice himself. All the players are made aware of the rules at the beginning of the season and he knew that a yellow card was on the way for delaying the restart.
Why take the risk of receiving another booking when you’re already walking a tightrope? It was an example of poor decision-making by Rice and, hopefully, he will be able to learn from this to avoid a similar fate in the future.
