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Fulham attacking midfielder Luis Boa Morte
again not given the benefit of the doubt
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Fulham v Liverpool Referee Alan Wiley made an error in booking Luis Boa Morte for diving.
Luis had collected the ball in front of the Riverside stand and was running
with it into the penalty area at the Hammersmith End with Abel Xavier
of Liverpool attempting to tackle him.
The film of the incident, freely available on Sky and ITV, clearly shows
Xavier with his forearm and hand on Luis's right shoulder. It also appears
to show Xavier push Luis to the ground.
Of course Referee Wiley may have been unsighted and therefore not able
to see all the details of the encounter but he must have been able to
see that there was contact between the two players and the laws of the
game are quite clear on what he should have done.
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A penalty
kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player tackles an
opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with
the opponent before touching the ball inside his own penalty
area irrespective of the position of the ball, provided it
is in play.
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The above is obviously also the case if a player is guilty of pushing
an opponent in the penalty area.
Rather than following the above law of the game and awarding a penalty
Mr. Wiley decided that Boa Morte had intended to deceive the referee,
and therefore must be sanctioned for unsporting behaviour.
Why did Mr. Wiley make his choice between the two options? His only honest
response can be that he genuinely thought there had been no contact by
Xavier and Boa Morte.
The T.V. pictures, available after the game, prove that Xavier did make
contact with Boa Morte and in fact could well have pushed him to the ground.
Mr. Wiley has the ability, and in light of the television pictures the
duty, to review his decision and then to rescind the yellow card given
to Boa Morte. In doing so he would be doing the right thing and also helping
to improve the standing of referees.
COME
ON MR WILEY BE A GOOD REF