Referee Robert Jones was told ‘it’s in your gift’ as he mulled over a red card for David Brooks against Chelsea – and it has now been revealed what that means.
The Bournemouth winger was involved in a bizarre incident with Blues defender Marc Cucurella during the 2-2 draw between the sides on Tuesday. The pair were at the heart of a tangle as Chelsea attempted to launch a counter-attack, Brooks seemingly bringing down his opponent.
Referee Jones did not offer up any punishment to Brooks. That was until he was sent to the VAR pitchside monitor to review the incident.
There he was told ‘it’s in your gift’ by VAR official Graham Scott before brandishing a yellow card to the Welsh star. A statement from the Premier League explaining that decision read: “VAR recommended an on-field review for a possible red card to Brooks for violent conduct. Upon review, the referee deemed that the challenge on Cucurella was a reckless action and not violent conduct – and issued a yellow card to Brooks.”
It has now been explained what Scott meant with his intriguing statement to Jones. According to Mail Online, it essentially means that Jones had free reign over which route to go down, whether that be to take no additional action, caution Brooks or send him off.
It is suggested that the phrase is common in refereeing practices and is used when all options are available to an official and the final decision lies with them. Despite that explanation, that is unlikely to pacify Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who was left furious with the call not to dismiss Brooks.
Speaking after the game, he said: “I’ve said many times, for me, when there is no intention to take the ball, it’s a red. They have to explain. If they give a yellow, that means something has happened. How can they judge that it was not dangerous? You cannot judge that’s not dangerous.
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“The intention is just to go against Marc Cucurella. In my opinion, it’s a red. Hopefully, we can be more lucky with the referee in the future.”
Unsurprisingly, Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola was of the opposite opinion. He said: “I don’t understand why the VAR asked the referee to go and check.
“There was no violence, I think it’s a clear yellow card. For me Brooks never wants to do anything other than stop the counter (attack). When you consider how Chelsea played and we played, I don’t think we deserved to win. I don’t think we were better than Chelsea.”
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