Premier League referee to wear never-before-seen equipment ON HIS HEAD tonight for Crystal Palace vs Man Utd clash
A PREMIER LEAGUE referee will wear a camera on his HEAD for tonight’s clash between Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
Jarred Gillet is set to wear the head-mounted device, dubbed ‘RefCam’, for the game at Selhurst Park.
The headset will record Palace vs Man Utd as the match unfolds but it will not be broadcast live.
Instead the footage will be used for a one-off edition of the programme Match Officials Mic’d Up.
The show, which is broadcast on Sky Sports, delves into contentious refereeing decisions, with PGMOL chief Howard Webb featuring on it recently and admitting Nottingham Forest were wrongly denied a penalty against Everton last month.
The bodycam has received approval for a one-off usage by the IFAB, Premier League, PGMOL and both clubs.
Both sets of players will be made aware of the camera and may have to tone down their usual interactions with the ref.
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has a reputation for passionately expressing his views to officials during matches.
Gillett has previously been part of experimentation on the pitch when he was mic’d up for an A-League clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne City.
A video of Gillett communicating with players over various decisions from the game went viral, with the ref revealing he was not aware he was going to be broadcast live on TV.
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He said: “It is interesting because the mic situation, I wasn’t broadcast live on TV in terms of when the game was being played that night and I wasn’t even aware that my comms were going to be used in the way they were after the game.
“Actually, what has been produced afterwards and put out was genuine, legitimate, and I wasn’t even aware that was going to happen so in terms of the authenticity and how the comms were, that is just our regular communication kit that we use every week. It is the same here.
“Those exchanges that happen with players are commonplace, it is just they are not heard because the broadcast of comms at the moment isn’t permitted to happen live.
“There is a little bit of secrecy around those sorts of exchanges that happen between players and referees. For me, that was just normal.”