For a bit of Wednesday afternoon fun I thought we could try a variety on that old newspaper and magazine favourite “you are the ref”, only we could extend it to the appeal hearing, just for a modern twist, like. What japes. The scenario is this:
It’s the last five minutes of a game. A player who is on a yellow and has been right on the edge of the law the whole game gets put through. He clearly controls the ball with his hand but continues his run and puts the ball in the net. The ref disallows the goal, gives the defending team a free kick and gives the attacker a second yellow, sending him from the field of play. So far, so normal.
The attacker then goes on Twitter and claims that he had never been informed of the handball rule in the whole of his career and that the ref must have made the rule up on the spot to punish his side as he doesn’t like them. When opposition fans and former referees criticise him by replying to his post he claims they are bullying him and deletes his account.
The club appeal the card on the grounds of the player’s ignorance of the law. At the hearing he further claims he had amnesia at the time of the incident but has since remembered that the opposition defender behind him had yelled “use your hand”.
The referee gives evidence that the player appeared to know all of his team mates’ names throughout the rest of the game, had not suffered a bang on the head at any point and had performed a rabona two minutes before.
You are the panel. Do you:
a) Increase the ban to five games for a frivolous appeal?
b) Consider that sufficient punishment has already occurred and dismiss the appeal without further action
c) Issue a public statement that the referee is a nasty old bully and suspend him from duty for the rest of the season before ordering Twitter to take down the accounts of all those who pointed out the player might be telling porkies and give the player an FA Committee role for life?
The choice is yours.
It’s the last five minutes of a game. A player who is on a yellow and has been right on the edge of the law the whole game gets put through. He clearly controls the ball with his hand but continues his run and puts the ball in the net. The ref disallows the goal, gives the defending team a free kick and gives the attacker a second yellow, sending him from the field of play. So far, so normal.
The attacker then goes on Twitter and claims that he had never been informed of the handball rule in the whole of his career and that the ref must have made the rule up on the spot to punish his side as he doesn’t like them. When opposition fans and former referees criticise him by replying to his post he claims they are bullying him and deletes his account.
The club appeal the card on the grounds of the player’s ignorance of the law. At the hearing he further claims he had amnesia at the time of the incident but has since remembered that the opposition defender behind him had yelled “use your hand”.
The referee gives evidence that the player appeared to know all of his team mates’ names throughout the rest of the game, had not suffered a bang on the head at any point and had performed a rabona two minutes before.
You are the panel. Do you:
a) Increase the ban to five games for a frivolous appeal?
b) Consider that sufficient punishment has already occurred and dismiss the appeal without further action
c) Issue a public statement that the referee is a nasty old bully and suspend him from duty for the rest of the season before ordering Twitter to take down the accounts of all those who pointed out the player might be telling porkies and give the player an FA Committee role for life?
The choice is yours.
