Calls For Special Treatment For Garcia and Mullins Makes Mockery Of FA Rules
What a slippery slope we will wind up on if the FA gives in to calls from Liverpool and West Ham United for clemency for Luis Garcia and Hayden Mullins after their sendings off in last night’s Premiership clash.
The red cards for violent conduct will mean both players have to serve a mandatory three match suspension each which would see them ruled out of this year’s FA Cup Final between the two clubs.
While I understand Rafa Benitez and Alan Pardew have a duty to use any means they can to keep their best players available for a big showpiece match such as the FA Cup Final, I find it a tad disconcerting that they would try and play the sympathy card to weasel some favour with the FA in their appeals.
Benitez says England should follow the Spanish model of the FA deciding on a case by case basis how many games the player should be suspended for but at this stage of the season the FA would leave themselves open to all kinds of legal challenge if they changed the rules just to suit a couple of players who couldn’t keep their hands and elbows to themselves a couple of weeks before a potential cup final appearance.
Violent conduct must be punished and harsh though it may seem in the cold light of day to the two players and managers involved, there are rules and laws governing the game for a reason and that is to provide structure and a level playing field for all clubs. To change the laws to allow two players, who were rightly sent off, a chance to appear in the greatest of domestic cup finals would make a mockery of all that the FA and it’s lawmakers stand for.
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11 opinions for Calls For Special Treatment For Garcia and Mullins Makes Mockery Of FA Rules
happy Hammer (still)
Apr 27, 2006 at 9:08 pm
so AP & RB play their reserve team for their remaining Prem matches to avoid any chance of their starting 11 (pus reserves) being suspended… neither side realistically have any chance of changing anything league wise - so why would they risk their best players?
That is not fair on those teams battling to avoid relegation / top 7 finish…. once qualified for FA Cup final all players should be eligible….
Boris Roberts
Apr 27, 2006 at 9:17 pm
You obviously did not watch the match. Howard Webb a newcomer to the premier league, forgot to apply the unwritten law of the game. the law of common sense. It was hand bags at three paces. Having been a referee, all that was required at that stage of the match was a talking to and a handshake. But no, Mr Webb wanted to be the star of the show by flashing his supreme power in the shape of a red card. Come on referees show a little common sense.
Steve P
Apr 27, 2006 at 9:19 pm
as a west ham fan I agree with your comment. we can’t change the rules now just because of the cup final. It’s just a shame that Mullins is too much of a man to fall over like he’s been shot when he gets hit. If he acted like Garcia then he would still be playing in the Cup Final. Who says standing up for yourself is a good thing.
brookster
Apr 27, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Yeah: let’s face it, they should all have to stick to the letter of the law. If they couldn’t behave, and let’s face it, this kind of behaviour is filtering down to the very very lower leagues and leading to referees in pub games getting broken jaws and noses, they should be punished.
Alan
Apr 27, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Discipline amongst players is at an all-time low and as you say, what kind of example to Sunday league players and kids would it show if the FA let these players appear in a Cup Final despite getting sent off for violent conduct.
Closed case as far as I’m concerned.
Groundhog Dave
Apr 27, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Sometimes I struggle to believe the claptrap some people come out with. Mullins is not a dirty player, neither is Garcia for that matter. If you actually watch what happens the incident warranted a yellow card each - never a straight red. If it were violent conduct I’d be the first to say they should be banned but I don’t see anything violent about the incident. Things like that happen in a football match and always have done. No damage done to either player.
Do any of you contributers actually play football or just play at writing about it?
Alan
Apr 27, 2006 at 10:16 pm
While I would welcome more common sense being shown by Premier League referees (and by more I of course mean just a little to even get them started), I can’t advocate players raising their hands to each other in any way, shape or form. Handbags is no excuse I’m afraid.
If the players were so mildly infuriated to get involved in handbags then maybe they should have just counted to ten and bit their lips instead. Indiscipline shouldn’t be tolerated and definitely shouldn’t be brushed over by their managers who should be first in line to make them toe the line.
For fear of invoking the wrath of the Liverpool fans for the third time in a fortnight I’ll resist the temptation to have a go at Garcia for being a diver. Another disgusting trait of the modern day professional footballer that seems to be growing by the week.
Kerbers
Apr 28, 2006 at 7:51 am
As usual football has got out of hand and its makes me hate the game I love so much. I have always said that if you commit a challenge that is worthy of a yellow card you get a yellow, even if it is a derby match, cup final or if you have a yellow already. But in this case I believe that it was ‘handbags’, 2 yellow and a ticking off would have been the order of the day.
IMO I think that is what Pardew and Rafa are saying to the FA, its only people that don’t understand the game (like the press) that have brought this ‘change the rules’ ’special treatment’ argument into play.
The FA and all the refs need to be sacked and a team of people with a combined IQ of above 7 should be put in charge, then we can start to turn the game back to the game it once was, but that’s an argument for another day.
P.S Garcia didn’t dive ala Robben he just feel over, didn’t roll, cry or ask for a stretcher. As someone who watches him week in week out he is just a bit lightweight.
Alan
Apr 28, 2006 at 8:44 am
The problem with the current on-field discipline system of “yellow card, red card” is that there is now such a range of offences deemed worthy of a card that referees seem confused as to which colour, if any, to pull out in most situations.
While a player can receive a yellow card for running to his own fans after scoring and then another player receive the same punishment for a dangerous studs high tackle, there isn’t any consistency from referees and maybe it’s time to introduce a middle ground punishment between a yellow and red card.
Ten minutes in the sin bin for Garcia and Mullins might have calmed the situation down and still have been seen as a fitting punishment for raising hands to another player which is obviously worse than either kicking a ball away or taking off your shirt to celebrate.
Just because we’ve had the rules for years doesn’t mean that FIFA can’t decide to change some that would be in the best interests of the game now rather than messing around every year with the offside law and turning it into the most inconsistent mess in the game.
I think a sin bin would give referees that bit of room for error whereas in the past many have jumped in with red cards early in games for trivial matters and completely ruined the spectacle of the match.
Diving Moleman
Apr 28, 2006 at 9:24 am
If you watch the incident again properly it wasn’t even a sending off offence for either player! I was at the match and was gutted for Mullins at the time, but even more so when I saw it on TV.
It was a yellow at worse and probably not even worth that from a ref who hadn’t even had his cards out before that. He was obviously too scared NOT to give the cards due to his assessor. The wild lunge by Traore/Sissoko on the touchline a couple of minutes later (I was at the other end of the ground so it was hard to tell who it was) was far worse, luckily our player jumped over it and our attack continued.
The only thing I do agree with is this “Lets ban them for 2 games now, play the Cup Final and then ban them for the other next season” - however much sense it makes the FA just won’t do it and its tantamount to admitting guilt.
The ref should be a man, say he got it wrong, then the cards would be rescinded and the FA wouldn’t lose face.
End of story.
The Footie » Mullins v Garcia - Video of the Spat
Apr 28, 2006 at 12:54 pm
[...] For those who commented on the Special Treatment post yesterday and maybe hadn’t seen the incident I’ve found the clip on youtube.com. [...]
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