Eddie VukovicSpitting More than Chips
Filho da Puta!
Or
Son of a bitch!
That's what Melbourne Victory's Ney Fabiano called Adelaide's Robbie Cornthwaite on Friday night at the Telstra Dome. Right before a huge loogey leapt from his big Brazilian lips onto Cornthwaite's face. But here's the crux of it. Was the spit intentional, as Cornthwaite and Referee Matthew Breeze will have us believe? Or was it simply a by product of an angered South American with lips larger than Jimmy Walker's?
The jury's out. Well it isn't actually, as the incident hasn't even gone up to the review panel yet. But why spoil dodgy rhetoric with facts? Now I'm no expert, but after watching the replay countless times...well more than 10, I conclude that Ney Fabiano, the Victory's answer to Uncle Fester has been a victim of circumstance.
Watch this footage carefully,
and you will see Fabiano become outraged at an apparent elbow to the chops from Cornthwaite, showing Breeze just how large his bottom lip is. He then turns his attention to Cornthwaite and unleashes the Portuguese assault and you can see quite clearly, that the globule of spittle fires from his mouth just as he's saying the last word. Watch closely. Just as he's saying puta, the unfortunate Cornthwaite cops it. It's at this stage that Cornthwaite then tells Breeze that he's been spat on and demands Fabiano gets sent off. Breeze, who's vision is obscured by Fabiano reacts to the deman and, well, out comes the card.
Now I don't condone spitting at all. I think it's vile and inherently uncivilised. But on this occasion, I really don't think Fabiano's liquid assault was deliberate. Even Travis Dodd, the Reds captain, played it down, saying there was nothing in it.
Yesterday Melbourne appealed the card and this was rejected and tomorrow they will go to the review panel and plead their case. Here's the rub though. No matter how much evidence you provide, the review panel rarely overules a referee's decision and while I don't think Fabiano deserves it, he will cop a hefty suspension. One which in the context of the incident, reflects poorly on the leagues capacity for common sense.
Or
Son of a bitch!
That's what Melbourne Victory's Ney Fabiano called Adelaide's Robbie Cornthwaite on Friday night at the Telstra Dome. Right before a huge loogey leapt from his big Brazilian lips onto Cornthwaite's face. But here's the crux of it. Was the spit intentional, as Cornthwaite and Referee Matthew Breeze will have us believe? Or was it simply a by product of an angered South American with lips larger than Jimmy Walker's?
The jury's out. Well it isn't actually, as the incident hasn't even gone up to the review panel yet. But why spoil dodgy rhetoric with facts? Now I'm no expert, but after watching the replay countless times...well more than 10, I conclude that Ney Fabiano, the Victory's answer to Uncle Fester has been a victim of circumstance.
Watch this footage carefully,
and you will see Fabiano become outraged at an apparent elbow to the chops from Cornthwaite, showing Breeze just how large his bottom lip is. He then turns his attention to Cornthwaite and unleashes the Portuguese assault and you can see quite clearly, that the globule of spittle fires from his mouth just as he's saying the last word. Watch closely. Just as he's saying puta, the unfortunate Cornthwaite cops it. It's at this stage that Cornthwaite then tells Breeze that he's been spat on and demands Fabiano gets sent off. Breeze, who's vision is obscured by Fabiano reacts to the deman and, well, out comes the card.
Now I don't condone spitting at all. I think it's vile and inherently uncivilised. But on this occasion, I really don't think Fabiano's liquid assault was deliberate. Even Travis Dodd, the Reds captain, played it down, saying there was nothing in it.
Yesterday Melbourne appealed the card and this was rejected and tomorrow they will go to the review panel and plead their case. Here's the rub though. No matter how much evidence you provide, the review panel rarely overules a referee's decision and while I don't think Fabiano deserves it, he will cop a hefty suspension. One which in the context of the incident, reflects poorly on the leagues capacity for common sense.
