Mariners captain Matt Simon lucky to get just one game penalty for calling ref a ‘f...ing dog’
In more than one way, Matt Simon is a very lucky man. He’s copped a two match ban for getting sent off against Brisbane, but only one of those matches is for his tirade at the ref.
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In more than one way, Matt Simon is a very lucky man.
The Mariners captain will sit out two games in total for his tirade at referee Steven Lucas against Brisbane 10 days ago, but one of those was for getting a red card in the first place.
So the penalty for calling a referee a “f … dog” is one match, with another suspended until the end of next season.
Simon is lucky because in the 18th minute against Brisbane, when he was only booked for dissent, he could easily have been sent off then for tirade number one.
And he’s doubly lucky because his second tirade, helpfully caught on camera, could have been punished rather more harshly.
Helping his cause is the fact that the FFA is moving from fining players for misconduct to banning them. When Ersan Gulum was fined $1000 for abusing a fourth official a year ago, it was seen as no great punishment for a player who had done well out of the game.
But in setting an initial scale, FFA have erred on the side of leniency, having received a submission from Simon that took full responsibility, and made no reference to any outside provocations.
He also has a record of just one direct red card in 12 years, and the net effect was to soften what could have been a stiffer sanction. Compare his one game with the five that Dean Bouzanis got from the match review panel for calling Besart Berisha a “f...... gypsy” two years ago.
Certainly the Professional Football Referees Association doesn’t think it’s enough. “The issue of culture in the A-League is crucial and needs to change,” said president Strebre Delovski. “This is workplace bullying, and we’re very conscious of the message this sends.”
That is spot on. The context in which these matters always has to be viewed is the games of park football soon to kick off every weekend, when players will abuse referees as they do every week.
Respect campaigns and zero tolerance for abuse have been implemented, and the use of sin bins has been a powerful tool. But that’s a message easily undermined when professionals set such a tone and the penalty they get is on the meek side.
Matt Simon was lucky; let’s hope the next A-League players to turn their vitriol on to referees are rather less so.
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