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Just when you think the A-League is running smoothly, perhaps as smoothly as it ever has, along comes an unprecedented email from the governing body at 5.38pm AEST on a Friday evening, two-thirds of the way into the season.
It’s not so much the content of the email which has you wondering, although there are obvious questions about the three match suspension of Joel Griffiths that need addressing, but it’s the timing.
Unless you’re in Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide, it’s already close of business, the weekend is under way, and A-League fans and clubs are making their final preparations for the upcoming round’s action.
For Sydney FC and their coach Frank Farina, the suspension of Griffiths for the “use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures against a match official”, means he had to alter his plans on the eve on this evening’s vital away clash in Newcastle.
Given that Griffiths admitted to swearing at an official late in the ‘Big Blue’ at AAMI Park on Saturday, the Sky Blues can’t have too much of a compliant that he’s been punished.
Whether it was worthy of a three-match ban is another story however, especially given that players right across the league appear to regularly be back-chatting to officials.
Certainly the FFA has made a strong stance, and given the out-cry when Griffiths walked free after striking an assistant referee in the groin over five years ago, there can be no such complaint about a lack of action here.
Sydney FC now have until noon on Monday to make a decision about whether to appeal the length of the ban.
Irrespective of what they do with their appeal, there should also be some stern introspection, including a possible sanction for Griffiths, a player brought in to help in their push for a finals spot.
Indeed, the fact they had to wait a few weeks for the transfer window to use Griffiths will only heighten the frustration.
It’s the type of indiscipline former manager Vitezslav Lavicka worked hard to eradicate from the club as he set about shifting the culture to a more humble and respectful one.
While there’s no doubt some questions should be asked internally, Tony Pignata and Scott Barlow should also be asking some questions of the FFA about the timing of the announcement.
Considering that the A-League’s match review panel, consisting of Simon Micallef, Alan Davidson and Con Diomis, met on Tuesday to deliberate over the Jerome Polenz send off on Saturday night, one has to question the timing of this subsequent sitting and announcement.
Word is the FFA only learnt about the evidence of the Griffiths incident mid-week, and that it wasn’t included in the referee’s report, but one has to question why and how it was missed earlier in the week?
How did this incident come to the attention of the FFA?
Indeed, just how comprehensive is the match review process if the incident was missed in the two and half days between the match finishing and the announcement of Polenz’s automatic one-match ban on Tuesday?
It’s the type of incident which should bring the match review process into clearer focus, and the FFA would do well to make it as transparent as possible.
Above all else, what the fans want to know is that every incident in every game is given the same due diligence and that there’s a consistent approach throughout, free of external influence.
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