Should the right of appeal be introduced to the CL?
By: Rob | May 5th, 2009
So Manchester United are through to the final of the Champions League after beating Arsenal, convincingly tonight. One United player who won’t be lining up in Rome however is Darren Fletcher, after he was sent off towards the end of the game, for bringing down Cesc Fabregas in the box.
There is a real element of doubt over the Fletcher card though – as he appeared to nick the ball as he got tangled up with the Catalan Kid. But whatever the rights and wrongs of the call, Manchester Unitied cannot appeal the sending off, unless its a case of mistaken identity.
Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t his usual raging self in the after match interview, calling the referee, Roberto Rosetti “One of the best”.
But that’s probably because he knows he can’t do anything about it.
If it was the Premier League, the ref would be allowed to look at it again and admit he made a mistake, and it would be looked over by the FA, who would decide whether the red card was justified. So should UEFA implement a similar system?
On the face of it, it would seem that they probably should.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of a touch and go call in this case (you can definitely see why the ref would react the way he did, its only the slowest replay that suggests a touch from Fletcher on the ball), if a referee – however unlikely as these are supposed to be the best officials in the game – makes a bad call, it seems bad that a player could miss the biggest match of his club (or in Fletcher’s case entire) career based on a mistake.
Obviously you don’t want it to go too far, where referee’s are completely underminded, and fans just assume that every call is going to be appealed. Indeed there is long suspected (and probably unfounded) suspicion from English club fans that the big clubs usually get the advantage of such appeals from the English FA. The last thing we want is that creeping into the Champions League.
So where do you stand, should Man United have the right of appeal?
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Category: Results
Tags: Arsenal, Fabregas, Ferguson, Fletcher, Man United, Penalty, Premier League, Red Card, Results, right of appeal, The FA, UEFASubscribe
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Comments
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No question, Rob that Red Card for Fletcher was by-the-book. In the spirit of things, harsh, but by-the-book.
Fletcher did get the ball, but you simply can’t go through the man from behind. And the loss of advantage was significant to Cesc.
In such a setting, if there’s a foul then it’s mandatory Red. No foul, no Red & play on.
The Arshavin finger-waving scene on the weekend against Spurs was similar, although the defender got more of the ball and therefore had a more legitimate claim on fair tackle.
Rules are rules. Refs cannot be mindful of players’ suspension status and still do their job. And they need to be permitted to do their job without being second-guessed unless circumstances are unusual. This is not an unusual situation.
Posted from
United States
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I don’t care what anyone says, that red card was incredibly harsh! First off, he got the ball! That alone should rule out a foul, nevermind a red card! And he didn’t go through the man Sam, he went around Fabregas, who only went down after the ball drifted away from him. Good tackle, disgusting dive, bad decision.
The ref only had to look at the movement of the ball to tell that Fletch had touched it.
Really appalling decision in my view, awful!
Posted from
Ireland -
Harsh, yes, but Darren should have thought about that before being a bit reckless. Would it really have been a huge deal to have allowed Cesc to *possibly* score so late in a game that was well decided?
On to the rules, I am no expert, but would it really make a difference in the severity of the foul (as far as contact on the opponent and loss of advantage) if the tackler got just a *nick* on the ball? Even with that touch, Fabregas would have had a huge advantage and could have quite possibly scored if he had not been taken down.
Posted from
United States -
Seems like the back leg is what did him in, and for me all the intent was in the front leg, which was focused on the ball. Sounds stupid, but he was clearly going for the ball with the front leg and his back leg turned into a stick-in-the-spokes situation. Penalty? Yes. Red? No. I’m sure I’d have more of an opinion if it were Liverpool, but for now I’ll say allow appeals. Refs are just as fallible as everyone else, and I think hindsight has a place when subjective decisions can decide a player’s eligibility for such a big match.
Posted from
United States -
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/81/42/36/lotg_en.pdf
What offense under Law 12 was the penalty given for?
The only offences Fletcher could have been guilty of were “impeding the progress of an opponent” or “playing in a dangerous manner”. However, these are not offences that warrant a penalty kick (even if they can be sanctioned by a red card)…
What was Fletcher sent off for, and how is it a penalty? “Holding an opponent”? “Tripping or trying to trip an opponent”? Fletcher made a good challenge, got the ball clearly, and afterwards, when he fell he got tangled with Fabregas. His fall didn’t deny an “obvious goal-scoring opportunity” since he’d already played the ball away from Fabregas.
Posted from
United States -
And let me clarify, when I said “Penalty? Yes” I meant that it was always going to be given as a penalty…I’m not entirely sure after looking at it again that it should have been, but I highly doubt that doesn’t get called a penalty.
Posted from
United States -
Wayne you’re absolutely right, this red card was ridiculous! He got the ball from around the man, a perfect challenge. I can understand the decision from the ref’s angle but he was ultimately wrong and the fact that this will stand seems very unfair on Fletcher. Its like the legal system with a one man jury and no right to appeal.
Sorry for the crap analogy, but to make it clear I think appeals SHOULD be introduced.
Posted from
United States -
To be fair, I think it’d be impossible for the referee to see that Fletch touched the ball in this particular incident – he has to give a Pen from where he’s stood.
Which is why I think he should be able to appeal.
Posted from
United States -
Not a penalty in my opinion: he got the ball.
Why don’t the IFAB put a rule about common sense in? They’re never going to be able to define exactly what constitutes a red card: Enough of a touch or not? Dangerous tackle or not? Sending Fletcher off would have been likely to cause no difference to the result (in fact, it could be argued that it made Arsenal’s job harder): it was a stupid decision.
And, yes, refs get so little respect these days that denying them the pathetic cloak of infallibility would make no difference to their authority: appeals should be allowed (and for bookings too, cough, cough, FA).
Posted from
United States -
I think that from the ref’s view he had a clear view of the incident. From the camera angle (behind the ref) you could clearly see the ball move right.
The first thing I said to my bro after the red card was that we should appeal. Now knowing that this isn’t possible it sucks. It’s an injustice, not just on the player but on the team. This has been Fletch’s best season by far in red and for him to have potentially his greatest moment taken away from him because of bureaucracy that doesn’t allow appeals is awful.
Posted from
Ireland -
jose, so you’re implying that united should have not cared about their defense bc they had the game in the bag? i’m proud that united showed defensive determination so late in the match.
Posted from
United States -
I believe I heard Roony say in the post-match interview that ‘Fletcher mentioned that he did *NOT* get the ball’. This, and the important victory which overshaddows matters of such insignificance as Fletcher’s participation, would explain why the Manchester United team are not howling.
And I can see how Fletcher might not know if he got the ball (before seeing the replay), since his view was obscured by the body of Cesc Fabregas whom he trundled over.
Posted from
United States -
Yeah sorry. This is obviously a foul and a red card. I know players and former players like to think that getting the ball is the only requirement for a fair challenge but that’s never been the case. If you just take someone out it’s going to be a foul, even if you get the ball. If you take someone out when they have an obvious chance to score, than you get a red card. Let’s keep our Beautiful Game beautiful, and not be reduced to watching players careen into eachother like rugby players.
Posted from
United States
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