Stuart Attwell ‘blocked’ from refereeing Premier League team for two years | Football | Sport

Stuart Attwell has reportedly been ‘barred’ from officiating Nottingham Forest matches for the past two years. The 43-year-old last took charge of a Forest fixture on 21 April 2024, a 2-0 defeat to Everton that prompted the Reds to post a now-infamous tweet lambasting his decision-making in his role as video assistant referee (VAR).

Forest, who were subsequently sanctioned for the outburst, pointed out that Attwell was a supporter of Luton Town, their direct rivals in the relegation battle at the time. “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept,” Forest said. “We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”

Attwell has not been assigned to a Forest match since, with The Athletic reporting that he has been deliberately kept away from their fixtures. There is currently no indication as to when the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) intend to reintroduce Attwell to Forest games in any capacity.

He has been excluded from refereeing, VAR, and fourth-official responsibilities for every Forest match across the past two years. The PGMOL have a number of policies in place, ratified in August 2024, governing the appointment of referees to guard against potential conflicts of interest, while match officials are also required to submit an annual declaration of interests form.

The contentious fixture between Everton and Forest concluded with the latter being charged by the Football Association (FA) for an “attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale”

In January, Attwell had been scheduled to serve as fourth official for Forest’s FA Cup third-round tie at Wrexham, but was subsequently replaced by Darren England without any public announcement.

Attwell is not, however, the first referee to be withdrawn from officiating a particular club. Mark Clattenburg endured a six-year absence from Everton’s Goodison Park following a string of high-profile decisions during a Merseyside derby in 2007.

In the case of Attwell, he opted against awarding Forest three penalties during their defeat to Everton, a result that left them just one point above the relegation zone.

The Reds were handed a £750,000 fine after a regulatory commission ruled that their tweet had alleged possible bias.

Attwell’s most recent Premier League outing as referee came in the 2-2 draw between Tottenham and Brighton on Saturday. He is set to take charge of West Ham’s clash against Everton this coming weekend.