West Ham have this morning confirmed that they have submitted notice to The Football Association to appeal the red card Tomáš Souček was shown in Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Fulham.
ClaretandHugh revealed last night they would do so and the club issued an official short statement on WHUFC.com which reads: “The Czech midfielder was sent-off in added time at the end of the second half after coming into contact with Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrović. Referee Mike Dean was asked to look at the incident on the pitchside monitor by VAR official Lee Mason and decreed that the No28’s actions constituted violent conduct. The appeal against Souček’s red card will now be reviewed by an independent regulatory commission at the Football Association.”
The regulations say a club may seek to limit the consequences of a player’s straight red card if they can prove that the dismissal was an “obvious error”.
In games where VAR is in operation, clubs are still entitled to lodge a claim of wrongful dismissal. The club must notify The FA of its intention to lodge a wrongful dismissal claim by 13:00 on the first working day following the game which will be Monday.
West Ham must submit any evidence to support the wrongful dismissal claim by 1 pm on the second working day following the game which will be Tuesday.
The FA Regulatory Commission will hear the case and the onus is on the club to demonstrate via written and/or video evidence only – that the match referee made an “obvious error” in dismissing the player; Incidents involving VAR, the club must demonstrate – via written and/or video evidence only – that the match referee made an “obvious error” in dismissing the player following the involvement of the VAR;
The Regulatory Commission will decide whether the club’s wrongful dismissal claim will be rejected, meaning the player’s suspension remains, or is upheld, meaning the player’s suspension is withdrawn with immediate effect;
If the Regulatory Commission’s decision is to reject the club’s claim it will then, in every case, go on to consider whether or not the player’s punishment should be increased.
This decision must get overturned. Dean has proven to be a power hungry media whore for many years and he certainly made sure of that again yesterday evening. What adds even more fuel to this fire is that Soucek is the ultimate gentleman. His character is truly professional and he sounds one of the nicest chaps in the game these days. Come on FA and do the right thing! Also, the decision makes within the modern game really need to be named so that fans from all over the globe can see the morons that bring in rule changes each season. These decisions don’t just come from this air – so when pathetic new rules and regs are brought in, the person(s) should always be named and shamed, and then fired for good!
Is it right that now we have appealed the red card that he can now play on Tuesday?
Yes