Doncaster skipper Billy Sharp revealed a T-shirt bearing a tribute to his late son after scoring a goal. Referee Darren Deadman is reported to not have issued a caution. Looks like it is possible to not spoil the emotional moment; and as for the sanctions from the powers that are, be damned. The argument would be paradoxically, that Sharp did not draw any more attention to himself on scoring a goal than just being at the pitch.
OK, I'm sorry, I have to speak up here because the media coverage of this shirt-over-the-head thing is driving me nuts... Here's the shot of Sharp revealing the message: Now Balotelli's incident from the Manchester derby: The media in the Sharp case pointed out that the referee "did the right thing" and didn't book Sharp. Actually, he couldn't, because Sharp didn't pull the shirt up over his head. That's the bloody rule. There is no rule about pulling your shirt up to reveal a message... other than it has to be reported, so that the league authority can determine if the message itself is inappropriate, or if the message is so clearly offensive that it must be sanctioned for UB or OFFINABUS. Yesterday Kevin Prince-Boateng honored Antonio Cassano (who apparently may have had a stroke earlier this week) by pulling his shirt after a goal by a teammate to reveal he was wearing Cassano's jersey underneath. The media was glad the referee did not book Boateng for the gesture... more likely, because Boateng was not the the goal-scorer, the removal of the shirt occurred out of sight, and because he was wearing an AC Milan jersey underneath, it was not noticed by the referee. Dammit, they're not looking the other way. They're doing what they're told to do. Sharp would have been booked if he removed his shirt, or pulled it over his head. Good lord, I don't understand why people don't take time to actually try to understand something before commenting on it. I would love it if the referee could use some discretion, but he can't. While I understand the reason for the shirt rule, 99% of the time the act of removing the shirt doesn't have an affect on anything. I understand why it's a frustrating rule. But I wish people would quit hounding referees for these so-called "senseless" yellow cards. We do lots of things we don't like to do- pay taxes, follow traffic lights- every day. People whose job it is to enforce those rules (i.e., IRS agents, cops) lose their jobs if they don't. Just lay off the referees about this shirt thing... please. Sorry, rant over.
Not at all. I, for one, could use a little clarification here: "Celebration of a goal: A player must be cautioned if: ... he removes his shirt or covers his head with his shirt ... Referees are expected to...exercise common sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal." 1) So, you are making the distinction between "remove" and "cover his head". No problem. But are you suggesting that there is some bright line for "remove"? Surely that could lead to all sorts of silliness. 2) I've always thought these 2 phrases got in each other's way: "must be cautioned" "exercise common sense" Seems to me that is where the public discussion is centered. 3) Very good point about how the mandatory card is only for a limited set of cases... Players' Equipment Decisions of the IFAB: "A player removing his jersey...to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned by the competition organiser..." Although that seems to threaten your strict definition of "remove"
It's not my definition. FIFA's website has the following document to clarify this: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_12_fouls_misconduct_en_47379.pdf I will refer all to slides 50-54.
I have to note that IFAB Law 4, Decision 1 says that a player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal "slogans or advertising will be sanctioned by the competition organiser." First, in this case the shirt was indeed removed. Second, what was underneath does not, IMHO (and, apparently, ITOOTR), constitute "slogans or advertising." Note that "personal statements" are only banned from the player's "compulsory equipment," i.e. shirt, shorts, shoes, socks or shinguards. Otherwise, Natasha Kai would be cautioned in every game for her tats, as a 'personal statement.' Third, punishment for this is to come from the competition organiser (i.e. in this case, the EPL) and that was specifically crafted by the IFAB to mean that the referee does not sanction the player for this. In other words, no card, put it in your game report and let the league deal with it as they see fit.
I failed to add that the referee says he didn't see the player remove his shirt. Not terribly surprising, given that the uniform shirt was red and so was the shirt underneath. I had one this year that I didn't see, either, after a high school boys' varsity team scored on a bicycle kick with nine seconds left in the game. As you can imagine, the pig pile was huge. All I saw was the scorer pulling down his shirt as he got up. Big whoop.
I didn't see the incident, just the pictures posted. The stadium looks very empty behind the player in this picture. Was the crowd that sparse? or could this picture have been taken after the game?
Firstly, the organizer is The Football League as it was a Championship match. Secondly, yes it is true that any message revealed should be sanctioned by the competition organizers. However it is still the referees responsibility to sanction the USB committed while celebrating a goal as per the Laws. Doncaster is bottom of the second division. Match report says 10k in a 15k stadium.