By overturning Eduardo’s two match ban for diving, UEFA and Michel Platini have made a mockery of themselves while setting yet another dangerous precedent: handing even more power to Europe’s top clubs.
It is a joke.
Even the most fervent Arsenal supporter I know said it was a dive. In fact, he was quite disgusted.
It seems everyone except for Wenger and a few Arsenal old-boys were applauding UEFA for taking a tough stance on diving.
And let’s get it straight, that’s what this WAS about. It was UEFA doing something positive that the fans wanted. It was good for football.
This wasn’t about Arsenal, Wenger, Eduardo or English football, it was about diving, but now it’s all politics, power and back-room skullduggery.
Why else would UEFA, after calls from the media and SPL chief Gordon Smith, go ahead and act against Eduardo only to rescind the decision a few weeks later?
Why would UEFA General Inspector Gerhard Kapl write on behalf of UEFA in his prosecution notes that Eduardo’s conduct was “gross unsporting behaviour” and an “obvious dive,” only for UEFA to change their stance which is now;
“Following examination of all the evidence, notably the declarations of both the referee and the referees’ assessor, as well as the various video footage, it was not established to the panel’s satisfaction that the referee had been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty.”
Seeing the incident live, I wasn’t sure.
So perhaps awarding a penalty is a mistake we could live with, but after a replay or two there was no doubt: Boruc did not make contact with Eduardo. To now say the referees think the replays are inconclusive, it’s obvious UEFA forcefully hinted what their new stance on the matter was.
Why else would the UEFA General Inspector come out in the first place with such a condemning statement claiming Eduardo received a penalty “through the act of cheating” if UEFA didn’t really mean it and have the backing of the referees?
They had days to analyse it before they made anything official, so they obviously would have conferred with each other and made sure they were all in the same boat, only for the match officials to jump overboard, with a push from UEFA.
Who knows what leverage Arsenal had. As far as I know, no new camera angles have come to light and the evidence that is available is quite damning.
In my opinion, as a neutral, it was a dive. In my friend’s opinion, as a Gooner, it was also a dive. And to begin with, it was also an opinion that UEFA shared with us.
But no more.
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