Mark Clattenburg will not referee any Premier League matches this weekend. And it's all Ed Sheeran's fault.

The Premier League requires that the referee and their assistants all travel to matches together. They also cannot speak to managers until they are all present, which is all an effort to provide adequate security for the referees and so that they could not be compromised by match-fixers. Clattenburg broke both of those rules, and he did it so he could go to an Ed Sheeran concert.

Clattenburg lives in Newcastle and was charged with refereeing West Bromwich Albion vs. Crystal Palace last Saturday, but he had tickets to the concert later that night. To make sure he could make it back in time for the concert, he drove himself to The Hawthorns for the match instead of going with his assistants. He then spoke to Palace manager Neil Warnock while in the car, making it two violations in one day.

The Premier League has said that he will not be assigned a match this weekend as punishment. Hopefully Ed Sheeran is fantastic in concert.

That Clattenburg is a 39-year-old man who still spikes his hair is probably relevant to this in some way.

Via The Guardian