AS anticipated the Livingston striker Dolly Menga has today been served with a Fast Track Notice of Complaint from Clare Whyte, the SFA Compliance Officer and faces a two match ban for violent conduct. This or course relates to the Angola strikers head-butt on Celtic midfielder Ryan Christie on Sunday during the Premiership match which ended goalless.
The SFA Notice is in relation to an alleged breach of Disciplinary Rule 200 which states: “Where any one of the sending off offences of (A1) serious foul play, (A2) violent conduct, and (A3) spitting at an opponent or other person is committed by a player at a match, but that sending off offence was not seen by any of the match officials at the time that it was committed the mandatory suspension for that sending off offence as provided for in Annex C of the Judicial Panel Protocol shall be applied to the player.”
So it appears that the referee Kevin Clancy has not seen the head-butt action but the Compliance Officer has studied the footage and clearly believes that Menga has a case to answer.
Any Fast Track Notice of Complaint alleging a breach of this Rule shall be Determined by a Fast Track Tribunal subject to the provisions of Section 13. The Fast Track Tribunal Hearing will be held on Thursday 15 November 2018.
Credit is due to Christie for staying on his feet and not play acting. This was of course in complete contrast to former Celtic star Andy Walker who was co-commentating on Sky Sports for this game and stated that he had no problem with a Livingston player diving in the hope of winning free-kick at the edge of the area.
To think it used to be called the Beautiful Game…
