Referee Denies Wes Brown Sent off for John O'Shea's Foul on Radamel Falcao
Wes Brown has won an appeal with the FA following a claim of wrongful dismissal during Sunderland's match with Manchester United.
Continue for updates.
Brown Has Suspension Withdrawn
Monday, Mar. 2
The FA confirmed that Brown had his suspension withdrawn after having his claim upheld following his dismissal vs. Manchester United.
Sunderland to Appeal Brown's Sending Off
Saturday, Feb. 28
Premier League referee Roger East didn't have the greatest afternoon on Saturday, highlighted when he sent off Sunderland's Wes Brown for a foul in the penalty area on Radamel Falcao, even though the foul was actually committed by team-mate John O'Shea. Sunderland will appeal the red card, Sky Sports revealed Sunday.
Even United's official Twitter account was confused by what it was seeing:
The two teams were tied at 0-0, with Brown doing a fantastic job defending Falcao throughout the afternoon, when the absurd incident took place in the 64th minute.
O'Shea appeared to pull down Falcao with Brown arriving a little later at the scene of the crime. East brandished the red card for Brown, and even after the two Black Cats made it clear to the official he had given the wrong man his marching orders, he refused to budge, per former England international Gary Lineker:
"Brown and O'Shea both clearly in conversation with ref, East, telling him it was O'Shea's foul. He ignored them.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 28, 2015"
After the match, East defended his decision, according to Sky Sports HQ:
Bleacher Report UK's Twitter feed suspected that this might be the latest case of mistaken identity in a week full of it:
As shared by The Times' James Ducker, this incident is but the latest in a long line of gaffes from Premier League officials this season:
One has to assume the FA will look at this incident and retrospectively change which player sits out Sunderland's next match with a suspension, while East will have some explaining to do and may not be seen on a Premier League pitch for some time.
