Liverpool-Everton Fallout: Mark Clattenburg Gets a Break

Mark Clattenburg paid the price for his misdemeanors in Saturday's Liverpool-Everton match when he was dropped by the FA for this week's games.

Clattenburg controversially ignored the protests of the Everton players on two separate occasions, the second coming when Jamie Carragher hauled down Joleon Lescott in the box during injury time.

Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt got better treatment from the ref—only a yellow card for a two-footed midair lunge at Philip Neville.

If Kuyt had made contact, it could well have be the end of Neville's career.

What's more, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard appeared to influence Clattenburg's decision to send off Everton defender Tony Hibbert after a penalty.

No player should be able to influence game-changing decisions. I'd argue that Gerrard should be investigated for his role in the caper.

If Clattenburg intended to give Hibbert a yellow card, he should have stuck to his guns. The FA has said it wants to encourage players to show more respect for officials. This isn't the way to make that happen.

As it stands, the EPL might as well let players themselves officiate the games. Players like John Terry make a habit of calling for send-offs and free kicks. The result is on-field chaos, poor decision-making, and, as of this Saturday, the suspicion that the league's officials may be corrupt.

Yes, the decision to send Hibbert off was correct—but there's a big difference, as an official, between giving a red card because you believe it to have been earned and giving a red card because a player told you to.

The end result is NOT the same, and anyone who says so is wrong.

A player is sent off in both instances, but in the second case, the integrity of the official—and the game itself—is called into question.

EDIT @ 22/10/07

In its second report of the week regarding Mark Clattenburg, the FA "confirmed" the ref is being rested this weekend in anticipation of an upcoming UEFA match.

It is the opinion of the author that the FA should not be so quick to put out false reports regarding the status of referees. Even the BBC, Sky Sports, and ITV were hastily rewriting their own stories this morning.

If the FA would like to explain this miscommunication, we'd be happy to hear it.

Further, the author would like to point out the date and time this article as published—before the morning reports today, and after the initial report made by the refereeing body and the FA.