Tuesday, September 06, 2005
The umpire's decision is not final
This could be bigger than the Supreme Court's ruling in 2000 that stopped the counting in Bush v Gore. FIFA have ordered a game between Uzbekistan and Bahrain to be replayed after the referee made a mistake. Uzbekistan were awarded a penalty, the penalty was scored but the Japanese referee ruled that another Uzbek player had illegally encroached while the penalty was being taken. Instead of re-taking the penalty as the rules require, the referee awarded a free kick to Bahrain.
Surely this must open the floodgates to litigation in world football. There are so many disputed calls it's hard to know where it will end. If I were a lawyer I'd be thinking about expanding my practice.
Surely this must open the floodgates to litigation in world football. There are so many disputed calls it's hard to know where it will end. If I were a lawyer I'd be thinking about expanding my practice.
