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Balbuena red result

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West Ham has this afternoon confirmed that Fabián Balbuena’s red card in Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Chelsea has been successfully overturned on appeal.

The defender will now be eligible for the Hammers’ trip to Burnley on Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd May.

On Saturday, Balbuena was wrongly sent off with nine minutes of the match against Chelsea remaining, after making contact with the Blues’ Ben Chilwell in his follow-through from a clearance.

Referee Chris Kavanagh was asked to look at the incident on the pitch side monitor by VAR official Peter Bankes and decreed that the No4’s actions constituted serious foul play.

The latest sensible decision is yet another damming verdict on the use of VAR in the Premier League.

The appeal against Balbuena’s red card was reviewed by an independent regulatory commission on Tuesday at the Football Association and, following this process, the defender’s suspension has been rescinded and lifted with immediate effect.

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I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called Moore Than Just a Podcast A Blogger on West Ham Till I die a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball,

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5 comments

  • Doug Connell says:

    This isn’t VAR’s fault. These decisions being overturned just show that referees need more training. The ability to slow the game down (only when absolutely needed) and take time to make the correct decision should be a good and fair one. The fact the referees have all the time they need and still make the wrong decision (step on stage Mike Dean sending of Soucek) just means that there should be questions on the refs decision making and understanding of the rules. Are they held accountable? Be interested to know?

  • GaryD says:

    How many red cards have been reversed in the EPL this year? To my knowledge just three, two of which were “awarded” to WHU. When you consider how clean we are relative to Leeds etc., the mind boggles.

  • Peter Amos says:

    Glad they showed common sense at the appeal, although this was the likely out come you never know . The cynic in me wonders what the betting odds were on a late red card, you can’t help but be suspicious when such blatantly wrong decisions are made. Is the ref on the take or merely incompetent??

  • Graham Watts says:

    That’s helpful, footballers will be able to kick a ball again!

  • Derby WHUFC says:

    I’d love to know how many times the greed 6 have been on the receiving end of this kind of decision. It’s all well and good overturning the red card but we’ll never get that game back.

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