"An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind." - Mahatma Gandhi.

A lot of confusion has been circulated surrounding exactly how Jose Bosingwa has not been punished for his astonishing attack against Yossi Benayoun in last Sunday's match against Liverpool.

This short article aims to clear it all up and hopefully convince people that the F.A is not being 'inconsistent,' that the linesman was NOT at fault, and that Mike Riley is the real culprit—along with Bosingwa, of course.

For those who missed the incident, here's a video of it.  As you will see, Bosingwa clearly and deliberately attacked Benayoun, putting a boot into his lower back, most probably out of frustration of losing Chelsea's biggest game of the season so far.

The blame has been spread across four main parties, which are individually addressed below:

The Linesman

First up, Mo Matadar, the linesman—or assistant referee, as they are supposed to be called nowadays. Poor guy. He did nothing wrong in Sunday's incident and yet has been chastised by nearly everybody.

"The linesman was right next to Benayoun when the challenge came in and (yet) he waved his flag for a goal kick, completely ignoring what had just taken place". 

"The FA cannot charge Bosingwa because the assistant referee saw it and let it go."

"I think another thing that needs to be looked at is the eye-sight of the linesman. How did he not see Bosingwa's attack?"

All of the above are unfortunately completely untrue.

Have a look at the incident again, focusing on the Mo this time. He waves his flag frantically the instant after Bosingwa knocks Benayoun over.

To be completely honest, this should be enough evidence for the common sense to kick in and tell oneself that he did recognise the foul. 

But if you need more proof, you only need to look at the following diagram to see what Mo's actions really meant:

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

So, in other words: Mo Matadar did not simply ignore the incident and wave for a goal kick. He clearly recognised the violent conduct and waved his flag frantically to call the attention of the referee. He did his job.

The Truth: referee Mike Riley overruled him. Therefore he should not be subjected to blame.

Apparently, he has been demoted to officiating in a League Two match for his next game. I don't know whether he's actually been demoted or whether it was just his next fixture, but it's a shamble the way he has been misreported. 

(However, if you do want to see an amazingly short sighted linesman, jump across to here.)

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?