Donald, Gianni and the Get Out of Red Card Free Card
Because for twenty years I've been telling players a red card meant a mandatory holiday.
For the best part of two decades my phone would ring.
"Vicki... surely we can appeal this?"
"It was never a red card."
"The referee got it wrong."
"There has to be something we can do."
As the contact person at South Hobart FC, my answer was always exactly the same.
"No."
"It doesn't matter whether we agree with the referee."
"A red card means an automatic one-match suspension."
End of discussion.
Sometimes they were furious.
Sometimes they thought it was unfair.
Sometimes, privately, I agreed with them.
But that was football.
Red card.
One week holiday.
See you next Saturday.
Apparently...
...not anymore.
A little background
For those who haven't been glued to the FIFA World Cup over the past week, here's the short version.
Folarin Balogun is one of the United States' key attacking players.
He was shown a red card during the Americans' Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Like every player sent off at this World Cup, everyone assumed exactly the same thing.
He would miss the next match.
The United States' next opponent?
Belgium.
The American media accepted it.
The Belgian media accepted it.
Football accepted it.
Then FIFA announced something nobody saw coming.
Using Article 27 of its Disciplinary Code, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee suspended the implementation of Balogun's suspension.
Yes...
Read that again.
The suspension...
...was suspended.
Which meant Balogun was suddenly available to play Belgium after all.
And that's when this story stopped being about one footballer and became a story about football's rule book.
Somewhere in Zurich...
Phone rings.
"Hello, Gianni speaking."
"Gianni, it's Donald."
"Oh... hello Mr President."
"I've got a little problem."
"What seems to be the issue?"
"Our striker has a red card."
"Oh dear."
"I'd like him to play."
"..."
"..."
"Leave it with me."
Before anyone rushes to the comments...
Relax.
It's satire.
But let's be honest.
Reality has become so bizarre that satire is struggling to keep up.
The FIFA Rule Book
For as long as I can remember, football has been wonderfully simple.
Red card.
Automatic suspension.
Not "maybe."
Not "subject to review."
Not "depending who you are."
Automatic.
In fact, that's exactly what FIFA's own rules say.
Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code states that a player sent off is automatically suspended for the team's next match.
Article 10.5 of the FIFA World Cup Competition Regulations says exactly the same thing.
FIFA Circular No. 16 reminded every competing nation of that rule before the tournament.
And the same message was reportedly reinforced at every pre-match coordination meeting.
So everyone thought they understood the rules.
Until they didn't.
Because FIFA relied on Article 27 of the Disciplinary Code to suspend the implementation of Balogun's suspension.
The suspension...
...was suspended.
If that sentence hurts your head...
You're not alone.
Belgium isn't laughing
The Royal Belgian Football Association has responded with one of the strongest statements you'll ever read during a World Cup.
They say they are "astonished."
Not disappointed.
Not concerned.
Astonished.
They argue that FIFA has contradicted both its own Disciplinary Code and its own World Cup Competition Regulations.
They point out that every federation was told before the tournament that a red card automatically resulted in a one-match suspension.
They note that the same rule was reinforced before every match.
Now they say they are investigating "all potential options" to safeguard the rights of participating teams and protect the fundamental principles of fair play.
It's hard to blame them.
Their argument is devastatingly simple.
If the suspension was automatic for every other player...
...why wasn't it automatic this time?
Dear Football Tasmania...
May I respectfully ask a question?
Can we all now begin applying to have our automatic suspensions suspended?
Should every club lodge an application after every red card?
Perhaps there needs to be a new form.
Application to Suspend My Suspension
Reason for application:
☐ I didn't mean it.
☐ The referee got it wrong.
☐ It was my first red card.
☐ Mum says I'm a good kid.
☐ I promise never to do it again.
☐ I know someone who knows someone.
☐ The White House has been informed.
I'm joking.
Mostly.
But you can see the problem.
Twenty years of getting it wrong?
How many conversations have club administrators around Australia had just like mine?
"Sorry.
Nothing we can do.
It's an automatic suspension."
How many coaches have accepted that?
How many players have served their mandatory holiday because everyone believed the rules were crystal clear?
How many clubs have never even bothered asking because they were told there was simply no avenue of appeal?
If Article 27 can now suspend an automatic suspension...
...what exactly have we all been telling players for the last twenty years?
The optics couldn't be worse
Perhaps Balogun should never have been sent off.
Many respected football people believe the referee got it wrong.
That's a perfectly legitimate football debate.
But once the red card stood...
...everyone believed the consequence was automatic.
Then came reports that the White House had contacted FIFA asking for the decision to be reviewed.
FIFA insists the decision was made independently by its Disciplinary Committee using powers available under Article 27.
I accept that's FIFA's position.
But football has another problem.
Justice doesn't just have to be done.
It has to be seen to be done.
And the optics of this are dreadful.
The host nation loses one of its key players before a knockout match.
Political interest becomes public.
The suspension disappears.
Even if everything was handled entirely properly, football was always going to have a credibility problem.
The precedent
This is bigger than one player.
Bigger than Belgium.
Bigger than the United States.
Because every federation in the world will now be asking the same questions.
Can this happen again?
What criteria were used?
Why this player?
Why now?
And perhaps the biggest question of all...
If "automatic" doesn't always mean automatic...
...is it really automatic at all?
One final thought
For twenty years, I thought I understood one of football's simplest rules.
Red card.
One-match suspension.
Apparently, I didn't.
And if someone who has spent decades helping administer one of Australia's most respected football clubs no longer knows how an "automatic suspension" works...
Imagine how every club president...
Every club secretary...
Every coach...
Every volunteer...
And every football administrator around the world feels today.
Because the next time a player receives a red card, every club president will probably ask exactly the same question.
"Is this suspension really automatic?"
Or...
"Can we ask for the suspension to be suspended?"
Perhaps the first phone call should be to Gianni.
And if that doesn't work...
Well...
Maybe someone has the White House switchboard.
Because if an automatic suspension isn't automatic anymore...
Football may have just rewritten one of its oldest and simplest rules.
And judging by Belgium's response...
This story is only just getting started.
