In all seriousness the only difference (I think?) is that previously they could only take retrospective action if none of the officials saw the incident at all, whereas now they can do it if the ref sees nothing and the other officials see something but they're not quite sure what.

Here's the rule change regarding retrospective action for this season.

 

If anybody understands it please tell me ..

 

http://www.thefa.com/News/governance/2013/jul/retrospective-action-rule-change-120713.aspx

 

Edit: It's even more confusing than the offside law.

 

I think in this case the Linesman must have seen something, but not everything, so they then can't take any action.

 

If no-one had seen any part of the (I use this word lightly) scratch, then he'd be f**ked.

 

That is unless the officials saw it but didn't realise he'd actually scarred the spud for life.

Here's the rule change regarding retrospective action for this season.

 

If anybody understands it please tell me ..

 

http://www.thefa.com/News/governance/2013/jul/retrospective-action-rule-change-120713.aspx

 

Edit: It's even more confusing than the offside law.

 

So here's their wording of the rule change.

 

From the start of the 2013-14 campaign, where the referee’s view of an incident has been completely obstructed and the assistant referees or fourth official are not in a position such that they could be expected to judge the challenge, based on factors such as their distance from or line of sight to an incident, The FA will be able to take retrospective action.

 

And their statement today:

 

One of the match officials saw the coming together of the two players, albeit not in its entirety.

 

 

So by their own admission they saw the two having handbags but probably missed the important bit of Torres putting his hands on Vertonghen's face.

 

So unless they were able to prove none of the four match day officials saw the two squaring up to each other they can't do anything. 

 

Sounds to me like this is only going to work particularly well for off the ball incidents such as when Ferdinand knocked Torres down at Old Trafford last season. 

From the start of the 2013-14 campaign, where the referee’s view of an incident has been completely obstructed and the assistant referees or fourth official are not in a position such that they could be expected to judge the challenge, based on factors such as their distance from or line of sight to an incident, The FA will be able to take retrospective action.

My take is the wording of the bit in bold. Dean saw enough to have dealt with the incident but maybe didnt see the scratching part in full. Becsuse of the wording above they were caught out.

Stop it now guys.

 

My head hurts.

In theory, Torres should be banned but not sure I care when incidents like this on our players have gone unpunished. If we can benefit from FA incompetence (for once) I can't say I am not happy.

 

 

I'm glad the ban won't be extended. Nando played well against Spurs hopefully he can continue to play that way.

Stop it now guys.

 

My head hurts.

Exactly still alls well that ends well, as for the FA they can only do what their initials say they can which is, FA.

So what exactly is the point of reviewing the incident when, with the referee having seen a part of it, the FA cannot act anyway? It's baffling how convoluted this whole process is.

 

Surely the entire purpose behind retrospective action is to correct anything the referee got wrong, especially if the referee only saw part of it??

How often has Torres effected the end result over the last year? 

It is not how often, surely it is, look what he does now that matters.

I'm sure Las7 will be crying into his pint over this.

Graham Poll's face must be a picture.

 

From his pathetic rant yesterday:

 

And as the violent incident was clearly missed by all of the match officials, the FA can now have the incident reviewed by their disciplinary panel, which must surely recommend a suspension.

 

Good to see he got it all wrong.

Justice at last.

From his pathetic rant yesterday:

Good to see he got it all wrong.

 

Are you surprised he got it wrong?

#FreeNando 

FIFA don't want matches to be subject to a situation where they are re- refereed after the event and are 100% against any home association introducing rules that allow a panel or body to challenge actions taken by match officials if they have seen an incident.

I was aware of the rule change and said to my good lady that the asst ref had to have seen the afters as he left the touchline and went between the players on the goal line some 10 yards away..

Put quite simply he must have seen the coming together otherwise he wouldn't have come off the touchline. 

Graham Poll and other clearly haven't a clue. 

Edited October 1, 201312 yr by terraloon

Good to see he got it all wrong.

 

Nice to see some habits don't change.

Nice to see some habits don't change.

I wonder I'd he managed to get 3 things wrong, it's the magic number apparently.

Graham Poll would have giving him 3 yellow cards.  

The FA's retrospective system is so flawed, I wouldn't have been surprised if Torres got a life ban.

 

Look at Aguero on Luiz (which by the way, got absolutely no media attention...) and Mcmanaman on Haidara last season... if they don't get any form of retrospective punishment why should Torres for brushing Vertonghen with his lovely manicured nails? 

 

Common sense seems to have prevailed this time, but they have no structure in their process. Making it up as they go along.

Have to say some sense. I'd never even given him the red.

Feels just like the Hazard-case. It looked like the small rat would be punished for hogging the ball but to my and probably other people's huge surprise he got a red card and banned. I have no idea who the FA is trying to protect with these ridiculous bans. Let the boys play.

After all Torres-Verthongen was man to man and and an even battle.

He starts tonight and he's going to score tonight. FERNANDO TORRES CHELSEA'S NUMBER 9 

^ Wooo. A bit overboard there. Hope you are right though.

He starts tonight and he's going to score tonight. FERNANDO TORRES CHELSEA'S NUMBER 9 

will he? i'll look forward to that then. is it going to be a tap-in, header, 25 yard screamer? more info would be great thanks ;)

Yeah he will.  Can't give you more info because no point watching the game then. haha.  All joking aside he's playing well and I would love it to continue so I want to support him.