Sports After Dark

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) have suspended Central Coast Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic for nine months, plus a further six months probation for violent conduct after he slapped referee Mark Shields’ hand. This may seem like a strong message that touching officials will not be tolerated, but this is also same body who did not suspend Newcastle’s Joel Griffith when he struck an assistant referee.

The Newcastle Jets won the A-League grand final against the Mariners by 1-0 but the game ended in controversy when referee Shields failed to see an obvious Jets hand-ball in the box during injury time which should have given the Mariners a chance to level the game from the penalty spot. Instead there were ugly scenes as the Mariners swarmed around the referee, shouting and gesturing for a penalty, and it was during this melee that Vukovic slapped the hand of the referee.

The suspension means that Vukovic will not be available for A-League duty until November, but his Olympic dream may still be alive. The FFA is yet to decide whether the ban extends to all games or just the A-League, meaning Vukovic could still play for Australia in Beijing this August.

Now any deliberate contact with an official is a big no-no, but the argument could certainly be made that Vukovic’s contact was fairly minor compared to what some players in European leagues get away with. However, when compared to the Griffith incident earlier in the year there seems to be a double standard.

Griffith lashed at at an assistant referee after he felt he had been fouled, but was not awarded a free kick. The contact he made was with a closed fist, albeit a very short jab, to the assistant’s groin.

The FFA claims that the difference between the two incidents is that Vukovic was given a red card, and therefore automatically subjected to a disciplinary hearing, while Griffith was given a yellow card which, supposedly, cannot be retrospectively upgraded to a red. More cynical fans have said that Vukovic had the book thrown at him because his indiscretion took place on the A-League’s biggest stage, the grand final, while Griffith’s took place in a league match which few outside of football fandom would have been watching.

However you break it down, the FFA have a serious credibility problem on their hands, both in terms of the suspensions and the poor officiating on display in the grand final. How can Australasia’s best referee miss a hand-ball that obvious? How can one player get off scot free for punching an official while another gets almost a full season ban for a slap?

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The FFA send strong message with Vukovic suspension, but what about Joel Griffith? by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.