Appeal against match ban for the MFC player J.Aliadiere on 23/02/08

To:  The Football Association

We, the undersigned, strongly feel that the sending off of Jeremie Aliadiere in the Premiership football match between Liverpool and Middlesbrough on 23rd February 2008 was unjust, unnecessarily harsh and, at worst, hypocritical in the light of both the incident itself and with respect to the far more egregiously serious incidents occurring elsewhere on the same day, especially with regard to the injury to the Arsenal player, Eduardo. We feel that the upholding of a match ban shows a huge inconsistency in the approach of match officials and the FA.









We feel that labelling Aliadiere’s actions as ‘violent conduct’ is clear evidence of a major miscarriage of justice. To clarify this position, we feel that, should the act of minor and clearly harmless retaliation towards what can be easily interpreted as an act of assault, lead to a dismissal then it would represent grounds to reconsider the very purpose of an authorising body in the first place as a means of maintaining order and instilling strong values of sportsmanship.









Furthermore, we strongly disagree that an appeal against this decision should be regarded as ‘frivolous’.









It is generally understood by we, the undersigned, that the subsequent decision to not only withhold but to increase the ban of Jeremie Aliadiere to four games instead of three represents an affirmation of the FA’s authoritative power and their support for UK referees which is something that we can indeed sympathise with on its own terms.









However, we strongly feel that such a decision in this case represents the sort of red-tape bureaucracy and authority that belittles and betrays the core values of our own country and that we ourselves experience in multifarious aspects throughout our own lives. To clarify this position, we feel that the decision to punish the appeal that, it would appear, Middlesbrough Football Club and Jeremie Aliadiere had every right to make, would seem to infringe the legal and moral rights of any person or organisation in any such analogous situation.









We therefore request in the strongest possible terms that the FA revoke their decision to increase the match ban and re-open the appeal procedure for the incident in question.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Appeal against match ban for the MFC player J.Aliadiere on 23/02/08 Petition to The Football Association was created by and written by Stephen Boyes (Ibsen3@msn.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.