John Brooks (born 1990) is an English professional football referee, who primarily officiates in the Premier League after being promoted in June 2021. Prior to this, Brooks had been a Select Group 2 referee since 2018, and prior to this, he had been a Premier League assistant referee.[1]

John Brooks
Full name John Edmund C. Brooks
Born 1990 (age 33–34)
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
Domestic
Years League Role
??– Football League Assistant referee
2012– Premier League Assistant referee
2021– Premier League Referee

Career

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In December 2021, Brooks refereed his first Premier League match between Wolves and Burnley at Molineux.[2]

On 11 February 2023, Brooks — as the video assistant referee — wrongly ruled out a goal by Brighton & Hove Albion's Pervis Estupiñán against Crystal Palace. A technician tasked with drawing the lines failed to draw the line to the deepest Crystal Palace defender and mistakenly identified James Tomkins as the Crystal Palace player closest to his own goal when it was actually his team-mate Marc Guéhi.[3][4] After the image was presented to Brooks, he misjudged the situation and unintentionally ruled out Brighton & Hove's goal. An emergency meeting was convened by PGMOL head Howard Webb after the incident. Following the meeting, John Brooks was subsequently dropped for his next two matches.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Four new referees for 2021/22 Premier League".
  2. ^ "New Premier League ref John Brooks takes charge at Brighton".
  3. ^ "VAR technician was partly to blame for John Brooks error during Crystal Palace vs Brighton - The Athletic". 2023-02-27. Archived from the original on 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-02-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "Decision made as VAR official punished after Brighton blunder at Crystal Palace". SussexWorld. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  5. ^ MacInnes, Paul (2023-02-13). "Referee John Brooks taken off VAR duty for two matches after Brighton error". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
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