Ligue 1: VAR referees sanctioned for a delay linked to traffic jams in Paris

“This delay could have had serious consequences.

The minutes of July 16, 2021 of the federal commission of referees of the French Football Federation (FFF) are not tender.

The document, spotted by RMC Sport on Wednesday, details the instruction of three men, Stéphane Bré, Lionel Jaffredo and François Letexier, assigned to video refereeing, the VAR, on May 16, 2021 on the occasion of the 37th day of Ligue 1.

That day, the trio must go to the replay center, in a building located in the center of Paris, to take a seat in front of the screens and assist their colleagues in the field.

Problem, here they are stuck in one of the late afternoon Sunday traffic jams well known to the inhabitants of the capital.

The stopper delays them so much "that they were not able to honor under normal conditions their designation for these meetings, forcing the CFA / DTA (Editor's note: federal commission of referees and technical direction of refereeing) to make emergency designation changes ”.

The three referees "recognized their error"

The three arbitrators in question did not seek to blame it on fate and "recognized their error of not having sufficiently anticipated the traffic difficulties to reach Paris that day" during their hearing.

The federal commission still wanted to sanction them, inflicting six weeks of non-designation from the day of the decision.

A sanction therefore remained in force until Friday, August 27 inclusive.

They have since resumed the normal course of their duties.

François Letexier, the only one still to exercise on a field while the other two have retired from this function, even suffered criticism a week ago from Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the defeat of the English on the Bern lawn in the Champions League.