Cahill could escape ban
Tim Cahill could escape suspension for his controversial
celebration of Everton's winner at Manchester City when he was sent
off for pulling his shirt over his head.
The Australian midfielder headed the second-half winner and wheeled
away, lifting his shirt briefly over his head - but not completely
removing it - before pulling the shirt down again before any of his
colleagues could reach him to congratulate the £2million signing
from Millwall.
Now the Premier League's refereeing chief Keith Hackett admits he
is awaiting the outcome of a meeting being held between the FA and
FIFA into other matters of law interpretation, where he expects the
current situation over Cahill to be discussed.
And it is possible that the eventual outcome, now FIFA boss Sepp
Blatter has got involved in the row, is that the authorities could
view that the sending off in sufficient punishment and that Cahill
will be able to make his home debut for Everton on Sunday against
Middlesbrough.
All Hackett would say was: 'There is a meeting going on at the
moment between the FA and FIFA on other things, but I would expect
the Cahill situation to be discussed - and I am awaiting the
outcome of that.
'I do not want to say anything else at the moment, other than that
the incident involving Tim Cahill and the caution, as well as Sepp
Blatter's comments, have all been noted by me. We are awaiting the
FA's reaction.'
Blatter has intervened already and said Cahill should not have been
sent off, which contradicts a poster campaign involving all clubs,
in which various methods of removing or partially removing a shirt
in celebration were defined as yellow card offences.
Everton have now claimed that during a summer meeting of the
Professional Game Match Officials Board involving the FA, Premier
League, clubs and managers, the new ruling and the poster campaign
were discussed - and that Hackett claimed then the posters were
wrong and should only have shown full removal of a shirt as an
offence.
Everton secretary David Harrison was present and claimed: 'Keith
Hackett informed the meeting that the poster campaign was in fact
wrong and he asked the members of PGMOB to manage the
situation.
'There were only supposed to book a player if they fully removed
their shirt during a goal celebration.
'If the player acted in the same manner as Tim Cahill did at
Manchester City then the referees were asked to go over and advise
the player but not issue a caution.'
Hackett, when told of Harrison's remarks, admitted to being
'surprised' at the interpretation of his words but declined to
comment further.
But Hackett did confirm that a lot of work in the summer went into
reviewing exactly what FIFA's new law directive on the subject was,
and to fully explaining via a poster to each club changing room,
the full range of offences. He insists that partial removal was
deemed a bookable offence by FIFA under the new rules.
The words of Blatter, who would have been involved fully in those
FIFA meetings, appear to contradict that, leaving Hackett waiting
for clarification from the FA so he can explain anything further to
his referees.
The Goodison side have now asked for referee Steve Bennett to
review his decision in the light of Blatter's comments.
However, the view now is that the FA will get themselves out of a
tricky situation by just viewing the sending off as sufficient
punishment and not to add a one-match ban. That decision could be
taken within 48 hours.
