Rage Online Blog

There's a very interesting, and very important, report in today's Guardian concerning a new FIFA directive. Essentially, from next month, a player receiving a red card will have to serve an immediate one match ban with no right to appeal except in cases of mistaken identity. This is a hard-line ruling introduced to prevent apparent abuses of the current system. In England it would mean that some of the high-profile appeals that we've been seeing recently would no longer occur. This is probably a more sensible system as it ensures that all players will be treated equally and everyone knows where they stand, whereas currently some players can use the appeal system to mean that they will be available for a game that they might otherwise be suspended for if they didn't appeal.

Labels: FIFA, referees