When the fateful day comes, the scenes at the FA will mirror those played out at Haringey social services these past few weeks. When - perhaps many years from now, perhaps in the near future – news of the tragedy leaks out and floral tributes begin to pile up on the pavement outside the club, you will not find one official whose job it was to protect footballers from dangerous aggression, who is prepared to do the decent thing and resign.
Confronted, they will hide behind Fifa and red tape; they will offer sorrow and regret, made more contemptible by self-serving, mealy-mouthed justifications that they did all they could. And no one will admit that what just happened is a direct result of years of incompetence and neglect, when silly little cracks at the expense of the referee and idiotic goal celebrations were deemed more important than a challenge that put a player in intensive care.
Joe Kinnear, the Newcastle United manager, is on a charge for calling an official Mickey Mouse. David Norris, the Ipswich Town midfield player, has been fined £5,000 for marking a goal in an offensive manner. And Chris Morgan, of Sheffield United, will face no further action for the elbow to the head that left Iain Hume, of Barnsley, fighting for life. Hume needed brain surgery and it is uncertain whether he will play again.
Confirming that the extent of Morgan’s punishment would be the booking administered by Andy D’Urso, another referee straight from Disney’s drawing board, the FA said that it could not upgrade a yellow card to red under Fifa rules and could bring an additional charge only in exceptional cases, in which it could be proved beyond doubt that there was an attempt to injure an opponent. It probably thinks it is off the hook, yet conversely its actions expose a failure in the duty of care that the organisation owes to the game and, specifically, those who play it.
Kinnear, and other managers pushed before a press conference with emotions raging at the end of a match, are an easy nick. They should have some form of indemnity, like MPs, or at least be allowed a little leeway when blowing off steam.
Norris caused distress by appearing to acknowledge his friend, Luke McCormick, the Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper, who is serving a prison sentence for causing the death of two young brothers by falling asleep at the wheel while drunk. The FA was correct to punish him, but the damage was already done and Norris had been publicly shamed by his actions. The case of Morgan was different. This was a very grave incident, unresolved in any satisfactory manner.
Yet, bottom line, there was nobody within the organisation with the courage, the concern or the knowledge to see Morgan’s challenge for what it was; nobody who cared enough about the future of the game to ensure that a potentially life-threatening offence did not go ignored.
Morgan’s feet were securely planted on the ground when he struck Hume and he appeared to know where his opponent was before the ball arrived. Check the replay. He elbows Hume, then heads the ball; the events do not occur simultaneously. Usually, there is a grey area in such instances. A player is jumping and claims to be using his arms for momentum or to maintain balance. Morgan could not have been better established had his feet been set in concrete, on a plinth.
At the very least, the FA should have brought a charge as a means of hearing his explanation. However, that would require leadership and a desire to take responsibility as guardians of the game, not the petty, two-bob posturing of the career politicians now in charge of football – the glib soundbites, the sucking up to the powerbrokers, every statement subject to an ulterior motive, usually self-advancement.
The FA pushes its Respect agenda but fails to recognise that this begins at the top. And how can any individual respect an organisation that knows Emmerson Boyce, of Wigan Athletic, has been the victim of injustice after his dismissal in the match away to Newcastle United, yet fails to do anything about it, for fear of challenging Fifa? Ben Thatcher, playing for Manchester City, had an additional charge brought for a brutal foul on Pedro Mendes, of Portsmouth, in 2006, but that was before the 2018 World Cup bid, since when item one on every agenda at Soho Square is how will this decision play with Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, and Michel Platini, his equivalent at Uefa.
In this world, Hume is merely collateral damage. Nothing can be done that might upset the FA’s masters. Simon Davey, the Barnsley manager, thinks that more would have happened had the victim been Cristiano Ronaldo, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s recent comments about the persistent fouling that the Manchester United forward receives would suggest little guarantee of that. The FA is no longer interested in policing, just politicking. News just in from Disneyland: Mickey Mouse seen wearing a Lord PleasedMan watch.
