Now i know this doesn't affect Arsenal directly, but it shows the clear incompetence and stupidity of the FA. they have rejected QPR's appeal over Shaun Derry's red card. yes, the one given because young dived in the penalty area when offside. not only do they stand by referees when confronted, if given a chance to say "yes, they got it wrong" they don't take it and continue to stand by clearly wrong refereeing decisions. FA out! Edit: Now they have decided not to ban Balotelli further for his first tackle on Song which was deliberate and dangerous, because 1 of the match officials saw it...
That's appalling isn't it?! On another, slightly classier note, I see that Martinez was rung up after the Chelsea game and was apologised to by Mike Riley. It doesn't change anything for Wigan but at least he admitted he was wrong.
Mike Riley is the head guy amongst Match Officials & I'm sure his conciliatory gesture was appreciated but, would it not appear a little more sincere if the actual Match referee had made the call?
Haha, such a joke that Derry's non-tackle gets a ban and Balotelli doesn't get an extension. What a great disciplinary system we have.
I think Johan Djourou (he's expendable) should walk over to a wolves player and punch him repeatedly, and see what punishment the FA gives him.
I see they (the FA) have also now decided that Balotelli will not face a sanction or review, because one of the match officials saw the incident. I have no words to describe my contempt for the officials or the FA over this.
Then the match official who witnessed it and decided to do nothing should be demoted for his incompetence.
what a f*cking shambles they are. Of all the incompetents - the prat who reported that there was an incident means no action can be taken. What sort of an imbecile reports that? Ah - of course he could be a closet Spuds fan.
If Balotteli had actually broken Song's leg, would the FA still have taken this course of inaction ???
nah, ivanovic got charged (not sure how many games) for punching maloney off the ball. only because the ref didn't see it tho. remember rooney vs wigan? last year. elbowed a guy in the head. ref saw it, didn't do anything about it, but becuase he saw it (i don't really know what he saw) fa couldn't, or didn't want to do anything
a senile moment-!! a defender punched somebody over the weekend - ref didn't see it (related to Wenger). Who was it - on MOTD.?
Man City's Mario Balotelli avoids ban for Alex Song tackle http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17670740 Now this is another ridiculous decision. Why hasn't he been further banned? What do they want, Song to lose his knee caps before they do anything? This was as blatant as you get!
^this. If one of the officials saw the Balotelli incident - which they did as per the reason no action can be taken - then why has that official not been sacked? To actually see the incident and not think it was a foul, let alone a red card, shows that he is either incompetent or a biased cheat. Either way, it's dangerous to have him as an official. A player is going to get hurt badly because he lets things like this go. Demotion or suspension is not enough - only a lifetime ban from the sport is enough.
I thought they have this referee league... if not, they should. An unbiased member of the F.A. (or possibly independent from the F.A.) rates the referee out of ten after each match. Whoever comes the lowest after each month or lets say 5 games, gets demoted to the championship and vice versa.
