Marko Rudan will be forced to explain why he shouldn’t face sanction from Football Australia after slamming the officiating in Western Sydney’s A-League Men loss to Macarthur.
Rudan could be hit with a reprimand, fine or suspension after he used his post-match press conference to criticise referee Adam Kersey after Sunday’s 4-3 defeat.
The coach’s explosive comments came after he had confronted Kersey following the full-time whistle, and his six-minute monologue has caught FA’s attention.
“Football Australia has reviewed the post-match comments made by Western Sydney Wanderers FC head coach Marko Rudan and will be issuing him with a show cause notice under the Football Australia Code of Conduct & Ethics,” FA said in a statement on Monday.
The Wanderers boss was apoplectic about several incidents during the match.
He was frustrated that Wanderers defender Tom Beadling was shown a straight red card, while Macarthur forward Valere Germain, who coincidentally scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute, stayed on the field after lashing out after a first-half collision with Beadling.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
On Monday, Beadling was handed a three-game suspension from FA.
“The game changed on its head with the red card and everything else,” Rudan said.
“In the last two weeks, I’ve had two players who are not synonymous for making fouls or being dirty, yet (get) straight reds.
“For the life of me, how Germain stays on the pitch when he kicks at my player in that first half, I have absolutely no idea.
“I’m not sitting here having a sook or a whinge, whatever it might sound like that – I’m just defending my football club.”
FA accepted Germain should have been shown a yellow card, but maintained his challenge didn’t justify a red card because, according to head of referees Nathan Magill, “the studs of Germain’s boot did not make contact with the body of Beadling, so it was deemed not to be violent conduct”.
Germain’s match-winning strike was also controversial given there was no clear-cut angle to confirm the ball had crossed the line.
Broadcast footage is organised by the Australian Professional Leagues, who were contacted for comment but did not respond to queries from AAP.
Rudan went on to say there was a “stigma” surrounding the Wanderers, claiming their fans had “lost trust” in the competition.
“The more we try to push forward as a football club and try to be as successful as it was back in the day, it seems to me as though nobody wants to see it happen,” Rudan said.
“I’m just sick and tired of the decisions that continually go against us. I shut my mouth for a long time.
“When this football club was created, everyone spoke around the league in glowing fashion – about the colour, the entertainment, the noise, the singing, and how (Western Sydney) was a godsend to the league.
“The west of Sydney is a diverse, multicultural area, made up of predominantly Europeans, so everyone praises the club, praises its fans for doing all that.
“Then some issues occur, and all of a sudden since that moment years ago, there’s been this stigma and our poor fans and members have had to pay the price.
“A lot of people have lost trust in the league because of it.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne City look set to be without maverick midfielder Tolgay Arslan for more than a month after he was charged by Football Australia for alleged verbal abuse of a match official.
Arslan was shown a straight red card by referee Shane Skinner after full-time in Friday’s 4-2 A-League Men loss to Perth Glory.
The German-born midfielder was cited by FA’s match review panel for the “use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures against a match official”.
The minimum sanction for the offence is a one-game suspension, but such is the severity of his alleged outburst that Arslan was referred straight to FA’s disciplinary and ethics committee.
The match review panel deemed Arslan’s behaviour warranted a sanction greater than four matches.
FA could opt to beef up that ban, which would leave City severely depleted heading into what shapes as a definitive period in the club’s campaign.
City, clinging to a spot inside the top six after the loss to Perth, face four clubs – Melbourne Victory, Macarthur, Wellington and Central Coast – above them on the table over the next six weeks.
Elsewhere, Perth’s Stefan Colakovski was handed a one-match ban after picking up a fifth yellow card for the season and will miss Friday’s trip to face Adelaide.
© AAP
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