Championship: EFL panel says 85% of ‘key’ refereeing decisions correct this season
Championship match officials have got 85% of “key decisions” correct this season, says an independent panel chaired by the English Football League.
The panel – introduced this season – is made up of five ex-players and coaches, as well as a representative from the EFL and refereeing body, the PGMOL.
It meets weekly to assess decisions and vote on whether they were correct.
Decisions over the award – or otherwise – of penalties, red cards, goals and offsides are among those looked at.
A similar panel was formed in the Premier League last season, though, unlike the top flight, there is no video assistant referee (VAR) in the Championship.
Across the first 21 rounds of games for which figures have been released, the panel has assessed 645 “key match incidents” – with 546 of them deemed to have been made correctly by officials.
In all this season, 29 red cards have been shown in the second tier and 45 penalties given.
Analysts from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), as well as clubs themselves, submit decisions to be assessed by the panel, who are asked to rank each incident by its difficulty as well as deciding rather the right call was made – with the majority vote being counted.
Results are provided to clubs and officials, who are also given “detailed additional feedback”, with the scores counting towards their place in the merit table.
