The Mail Bag
Mixed signals?
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By rescinding John Terry's red card, the FA showed beyond shadow of doubt that it was biased in favour of Sky 4 clubs. It seems that players from those clubs are allowed to wrestle opponents to the ground and heaven help any referee who thinks otherwise.
Terry committed as deliberate a cold-blooded cynical display of bad sportsmanship as we are likely to see this year and got off scot free. One of our very best referees was demoted to the lower divisions. Also, why no action against the usual suspects including that well known dissenter Ashley Cole who disputed the referee's decision?
Clattenberg and Halsey were demoted for opposite reasons, one for not taking action the other for taking it. Because the FA is not fully supporting their referees, is it any wonder that respect for all levels of authority is at an all-time low.
Dick Fearon, Posted 19/09/2008 at 22:58:09
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He gets to play this weekend . . . . . against little Man United.
Tell SAF that all the decisions go in favour of the Sky4.
Given that they play each other - including cup games - around 20 times a year, you cant actually show favouritism to any of the top 4 without damaging one of the others.
What else do we expect, it?s the Sky 4 who draw in all the money, they need them to be top of the league and competing in the Champions League. Football is based on keeping the same teams in the major competitions and keeping this monopoly. (Just look at how the redsite were allowed in to the Champions League when we qualified and they didn?t.)
Seeding works the same way, we draw a team that gets to the semi-finals, they draw a whole lot of shite teams you?ve never even heard of. We shouldn?t really be surprised by this, it's been going on for years and has got to the stage where bias is part of the game.
All the FA do is send out the wrong signals and they are basically saying its ok to assault other players and harrass refferees but you are not allowed to come to the touchline and vent your opinion when you feel your team has been well and truly done like we were on Sunday with that atrocity of a ref Wiley.
The FA have said that they want referees to be shown respect well it's a two way thing is respect and until it comes from both sides if I was Moyes I would be telling the players to keep trying to con penalties and make the most of the slightest bit of contact in the box to gain an advantage for the team.
Let's face it, being honest and staying on your feet did little for Andy Johnson apart from give him a bad reputation for diving and the same could be said of Duncan Ferguson. Maybe if they threw themselves to the ground more like certain big household names they would win more pens/freekicks and may have been better protected.
The simple truth is that football is not a good sportsmanship kind of sport, it's a sport where you have to be dirty and underhand in terms to win.
Just to point out the Leige player who kicked the ball out for the goalkick when the ball boy came on the pitch for the ball deserves credit for it. Think that would have happened against one of the big four?? Like fuck it would. They would all be in the referees face wanting some sort of free-kick or something that would gain them advantage but that's football and my advice to Everton is if you can't beat them then join them.
Serious Foul Play translates to ?Did the player intend to cause harm to the other player?? and on that count the review panel had to say No so they had no other decision to make.
Mark Halsey?s Ref?ing a 2nd division game today cos apparently he believed the Red Card should have stood and argued his corner, which I guess the Refs Association or whatever didn?t like. If he?d of put the card in as ?denying a scoring opportunity? the red card would of almost certainly have stood because the Referee on the day would have been given the benefit of the doubt, whatever any post match video evidence would suggest.
Halsey’s report apparently stated that the red card was for serious foul play not for a professional foul. As Simon pointed out, the panel can only look at whether the player actually committed the offence he was carded for.
Serious foul play means that the player used "excessive force or brutality" and it was clear in this case that Terry did not use excessive force or brutality to stop the opposition player.
If Mr Halsey had sent Terry from the field for a professional foul, ie denying a clear run on goal by using cynical tactics, then the card would have stood. Some will argue it still would have been harsh on Terry as Carvalho did appear to be coming round to cover, meaning Terry was not the last man. In that case a yellow would have sufficed. However, that would have been a matter of opinion and debatable, so I feel the panel would have backed the ref and upheld the punishment.
Having said that, bias or not, the FA (and refs) struggle with consistency and I think that’s what pisses most of us off! Moyes may have a new found respect for Mr Wiley, but I for one think he’s a fucking idiot. Was it him who gave that crazy offside decision last season? Fucking retard.
Whether a goal is a goal, or a foul is a foul, an offside an ...... etc, is not a matter of fact. It is a matter of opinion, usually the referees (or in the case of a recent "penalty", a thicket of them). And there can be no doubt that some refs show their preferences for some players (usually "national treasures" like Steven the Diver) or clubs.
If the authorities had wanted this ’respect’ thing to mean anything, they would have let the red card stand. As it is, we know they’re arseholes and unfortunately have to live with it.
ps - as DM showed over the (show me the money) Clattenburg affair, he’s a canny Scot, a bit like the other bloke, and is big enough to look after himself.
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1 Posted 20/09/2008 at 06:20:29
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