Everton balls: diving Niasse ‘s body of evidence
You’ve got to feel sorry for Everton’s Oumar Niasse. The idea is to swan dive after you’ve scored the goal not before. Why no-one told him is beyond reason. Hard cheese, then, that the striker has been charged by the Football Association for diving against Crystal Palace.
Niasse is destined to be a pub trivia having become the first Premier League player to be charged by the FA for “successful deception of a match official”. This is progress.
Trundling into the Palace box, Niasse suffered what appear to be a sudden allergic reaction to Scott Dann’s shirt fabric. The lightest brush and Niasse fell hard enough to make one onlooker expect police to draw a white line about the player and tape it off as a crime scene. Penalty duly awarded, Leighton Baines scored from the spot. To rub Palace’s faces further into the turf, Niasse went on to score the equaliser.
An FA statement reads: “Incidents which suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation are referred to a panel consisting of one ex-match official, one ex-manager and one ex-player. .. Only in circumstances where the panel are unanimous would the FA issue a charge.”
Not that it matters. The damage has been done.
Posted: 21st, November 2017 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
