By Chrysanthus Ikeh
Premiership referee, Mark Clattenburg has been suspended from officiating any Premier League game next weekend after breaking travelling rules in other to attend the concert of British singer, Ed Sheeran in Newcastle.
According to reports, Clattenburg had travelled in his own car to officiate the match between West Bromwich and Crystal Palace which ended in a 2 – 2 draw. The match official did this in order be able to get back to Newcastle to watch the singer perform that same day at the Metro Radio Arena.
Premier League regulations, however, require the referee and his assistants to travel together to and from games for integrity and security purposes.
It is not the first time Clattenburg would get involved in a controversial incident leading to being dropped from officiating matches.
On October 28, 2012, Chelsea made a formal complaint to the Football Association against Clattenburg about his alleged use of “inappropriate language” towards Nigerian-born Chelsea star, John Obi Mikel during that day’s match against Manchester United.
Although due to a lack of evidence, the club said it decided not to complain about alleged verbal abuse of a second player. United had won the game 3–2, scoring the winning goal after the referee sent off Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanović for a professional foul and then showed Fernando Torres two yellow cards, one for a high kick and the other for alleged diving.
Clattenburg was also not appointed to referee any game for not just the following weekend but three other weekends after that.
