Retrospective Justice for Ruben...

[SwalePie]

There is justice in footie after all, it seems.

(Not sure if this is common knowledge on here already so apologies if so!)

When we played Wealdstone in September, you may remember Ruben getting deliberately elbowed in the face and the ref doing nothing despite it being almost right in front of him.

You can see it here at about 2 minutes into the video...



Well, anyone who didn't know will undoubtedly be pleased to learn that the player who did it received a retrospective punishment of a three match ban for violent conduct...

17 September 2021
INCIDENT ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WHICH FALLS WITHIN LAW 12, WHICH WAS NOT SEEN BY MATCH OFFICIALS, BUT WAS CAUGHT ON VIDEO (FAST TRACK 1)

Alex Dyer, Player, Wealdstone FC

Notts County FC v Wealdstone FC
National League – Premier
14 September 2021

Breach of FA Rule E1.1 - It is alleged that the Participant’s behaviour in or around the 56th minute of the fixture constitutes violent conduct.

Charge admitted – Automatic Penalty accepted (3-match suspension).

[PedroTheFisherman66]

I'm not sure if there is any benefit in that at all for us, in fact possibly the opposite as they are playing Wrexham soon and losing him could possibly weaken their team. Such a shame the ref didn't pick it up at the time as it was a straight red in my opinion!

[SwalePie]

I'm not sure if there is any benefit in that at all for us, in fact possibly the opposite as they are playing Wrexham soon and losing him could possibly weaken their team. Such a shame the ref didn't pick it up at the time as it was a straight red in my opinion!

Definitely a straight red as you say. From the video it is really hard to figure out how on Earth he 'didn't see it'! Sadly you're spot on regarding any benefit to us but it is nice to see some sort of justice being done, however unhelpful.

[TSANHO]

How the ref missed that, right in front of him, I’ll never know. Maybe he chose not to see it….the refs so far this year have been truly terrible. Tuesday nights was the worst so far for me.

[countygump]

Definitely a straight red as you say. From the video it is really hard to figure out how on Earth he 'didn't see it'!

It certainly is as he was no more than a few yards away.

[LaxtonLad]

I'm not sure if there is any benefit in that at all for us, in fact possibly the opposite as they are playing Wrexham soon and losing him could possibly weaken their team. Such a shame the ref didn't pick it up at the time as it was a straight red in my opinion!

It's not really about benefiting Notts though, is it? Or who Wealdstone play next. It's about punishing him and his club now. If the incident had happened in the last minute of injury time and the man had been sent off it would hardly have given us any benefit and just the same three match ban for him.

Let's scratch our heads and come up with a more effective way of punishing such ungentlemanly behaviour while benefiting the victim and his club.

[Elite_Pie]

I'm not sure if there is any benefit in that at all for us, in fact possibly the opposite as they are playing Wrexham soon and losing him could possibly weaken their team. Such a shame the ref didn't pick it up at the time as it was a straight red in my opinion!

If I'm reading it right, the report is dated 17th Sep so presumably any ban would have been served by now. I can't help but wonder if we have cher to thank for this. On the Wealdstone match thread she posted:

Here's what seems to be the relevant section in the FA handbook:

6SECTION ONE: PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO CATEGORIES 1, 2 AND 3 TOGGLE SECTION AS FAVOURITE
CHARGES TOGGLE SECTION AS FAVOURITE
5 The Association may issue a Charge against a Player in relation to an incident whether or not the same incident has been dealt with by the Referee and/or pursuant to this Section One. In deciding whether or not to issue a Charge, The Association will have particular (but not exclusive) regard to the following:

5.1 any applicable Law(s) of the Game or Rules and Regulations or FIFA instructions and/or guidelines;

5.2 the nature of the incident, and in particular any intent, recklessness, negligence or other state of mind of the Player;

5.3 where applicable, the level of force used;

5.4 any injury to any Participant caused by the incident;

5.5 any other impact on the Match in which the incident occurred;

5.6 the prevalence of the type of incident in question in football generally;

5.7 the wider interests of football in applying consistent sanctions.

6 A Regulatory Commission considering a Charge pursuant to paragraph 5 above shall have regard to any standard punishment imposed pursuant to paragraphs 23 to 32 below for the same incident when considering any penalty in accordance with paragraph 40 of Part A: General Provisions Section Two.

7 The Association may issue a Charge against a Club at any time during the playing season in relation to cautionable or sending-off offences committed by Players of the Club.


Notts are a Category 1 team.

I know her partner has a fair bit of reffing experience, so I wonder if this was pointed out to the FA rather than them spotting it themselves?

[SwalePie]

If I'm reading it right, the report is dated 17th Sep so presumably any ban would have been served by now.

Yes it was indeed dealt with a couple of days after the incident took place but I only heard of the punishment last night so went looking for the case report.

[laddo]

Echo these thoughts. The bigger picture needs to be viewed here. He needed punishing for a blatant cynical and above all excessive aggressive behaviour and he has been thanks to the cameras picking up what unbelievably the ref didn't spot right in front of him.

[queenslandpie]

Given the referee cannot possibly have missed it I would also like to see action taken against him. Good to see the player in question being reprimanded.