Wayne Rooney says referees are over-reliant on VAR

Wayne Rooney believes errors made during the Aston Villa v Newcastle FA Cup tie at the weekend show there is an over-reliance on VAR.

Referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh were criticised for their performance during the FA Cup fourth-round tie at Villa Park.

They failed to spot Tammy Abraham was offside for Villa’s opening goal, missed a shin-high tackle by Villa full-back Lucas Digne on Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy which could have warranted a straight red and then gave a free-kick for a handball by Digne even though he was clearly inside the penalty area at the time.

Rooney described the handball call as “one of the worst decisions he had ever seen”, in his role as one of the BBC’s pundits for the live broadcast of the tie on Saturday evening.

Justice for Newcastle? ⚫⚪

The Magpies wanted a penalty, but Sandro Tonali eventually scores anyway from the resulting free-kick! ⚽ pic.twitter.com/tADr63R6aC

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 14, 2026

Speaking on the Wayne Rooney Show podcast subsequently, he added: “I think there’s over-reliance on VAR.

“And unfortunately, now the officials are used to that and where they’ve been getting their help and it’s been getting them out of jail at times or they’re waiting for that to make the decision.

“With no VAR they have to make the decision and they’re probably used to keeping the flag down and that’s what’s cost the decisions, yesterday.

“No one’s denying it’s very difficult job to do, I think that’s where the referees need some help and they’ve been getting it obviously from VAR and not to have that now…”

Rooney said the handball error was comparable with the failure to award goals to Frank Lampard and Pedro Mendes in 2010 and 2005 respectively