REFEREE Mark Clattenburg has been punished by his bosses, not because he missed Craig Dawson's blatant elbow on Julian Speroni – but for attending an Ed Sheeran concert.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Clattenburg will not be given a game to officiate this weekend, after he allegedly broke protocol by travelling to The Hawthorns alone for Saturday's 2-2 draw between West Brom and Palace.
This enabled the 39-year-old to make a quick getaway after the match, to see chart-topper Sheeran perform in Clattenburg's native north-east.
However, the rules of referees' body, the Professional Game Match Officials, state that referees and assistants should travel to and from games together, for integrity reasons.
The experienced official had Palace fans and manager Neil Warnock raging with some of his decisions on Saturday, not least his failure to award Wilfried Zaha a seemingly stonewall penalty in the first half, followed by his missing Dawson's heavy challenge on the Eagles keeper in the second half, which led to the Baggies first goal.
Speroni had to be substituted, for what Warnock labelled an 'assault', but no retrospective action will be taken against the England Under 21 defender, after the FA's disciplinary committee reviewed the incident.
The Mail also suggests Clattenburg broke a further rule by speaking to Warnock after the match alone, again without his assistants present.
