Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey says VAR made the right call in overturning Sunderland’s penalty at Old Trafford

Former top-flight official Mark Halsey has defended the use of VAR following the controversial penalty incident during Sunderland’s 2–0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, insisting the eventual decision to overturn the spot-kick was “absolutely correct.”

Speaking to The Sun, Halsey explained that while the situation was confusing in real time, he believes the video review system worked as intended – and that referee Stuart Attwell ultimately reached the right conclusion. “When I first saw the game live, I didn’t think it was a penalty,” Halsey said. “It didn’t seem like there was any real contact – if there was, it was minimal. When you put your foot up that high, you do run the risk, but I didn’t think it was a penalty.”

The ex-referee suggested that Attwell’s assistant was initially responsible for flagging the challenge, prompting the confusion that followed. “It looked like Stuart Attwell and the assistant referee were in conversation, and I think from what I can gather, it was the assistant who gave the penalty.

“VAR – Neil Davies – then looked at it and recommended a review, rightly so. Once Stuart went over to the monitor, it was correctly ruled against giving the penalty. For me, it’s not a penalty. However they got there, the outcome was correct.”

Halsey went on to stress that, despite the raised boot in the challenge, there was no serious infringement worthy of a foul. “For me, that’s a clear and obvious error – it’s not a penalty. There’s no contact. You can see Hume goes down holding the top of his head, but the contact was nowhere near there. There may have been minimal contact, but football is a contact sport. So for me, the outcome was correct – no penalty.”

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The decision came at a crucial point in the match, moments before half-time with Sunderland trailing 2–0. It initially appeared that the Black Cats had been awarded a lifeline when referee Attwell pointed to the spot after consulting his assistant, only for VAR to intervene and overturn the decision following a pitchside review.

Halsey’s verdict will provide some support for VAR officials after heavy criticism from Sunderland supporters, who felt their team had been harshly treated. The Premier League later released a statement confirming the reasoning behind the decision, stating that there was “no foul by the Manchester United player” and “no contact with the head of the attacker.”

For Sunderland, it was another moment of frustration in a game that got away from them early – but for Halsey, the technology worked exactly as intended. There was more frustration later in the match when Bertrand Traoré was shown a yellow card for simulation after going down around the penalty under pressure from Bruno Fernandes. Replays appeared to show some contact between the Manchester United captain and the Sunderland winger, yet VAR chose not to intervene.

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