Leicester City fan removed as ref from Tottenham match

The FA made the decision to remove Kevin Friend from the Tottenham-Stoke match because he is a self-professed Leicester City fan.

Things are heating up in the Premier League title race and with five to six matches remaining, depending on which club you support, the scrutiny is reaching new levels. The FA decided this week that they would remove referee Kevin Friend from this Monday’s Premier League match between Tottenham and Stoke City.

Friend admitted to being a Leicester fan back in 2013 before they earned promotion to the Premier League but that fact has not affected his career until now. The FA has made decisions like this in the past but this one in particular was in response to some heavy criticism from fans on social media.

Fans of Spurs in particular were concerned that Friend could sway the match or not make the necessary calls in order to keep their club from gaining maximum points from the fixture. Judging from how many matches are decided by refereeing decisions, both correct and incorrect, this seems to be the right decision on behalf of the FA.

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They have decided to skirt any controversy by removing Friend and keeping him and the FA away from a situation where their integrity could be called in to question. The slight irony in this situation is that Friend has refereed two Tottenham matches this season and both ended in convincing victories for Spurs.

The first match was in December so it was before the title race had boiled down to two teams but the more recent clash was in February against Norwich City. The title race was still in the air and contested by four teams, but Leicester were top and Spurs fans could have made a case that he should not have reffed that match either.

Another possible little wrinkle to this story is the simple fact that Leicester City have benefited from some generous refereeing decisions in recent weeks. There have been several incidents that should have been called as penalties, most recently a handball against Southampton, but were waved off or not called by match officials.

The FA stands to profit a great deal from Leicester winning the league and conspiracy theorists could point to those incidents as proof that there is something happening behind the scenes to make sure that happens. It also highlights how big of a story this Leicester run has been that it is even influencing referee assignments in matches they are not even playing in.

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All things considered however, this is the right call by the FA and we can all hope that this riveting title race is not decided by the players on the pitch and not the referees.