FA Takes No Action
Friday, October 22, 2004

The Football Association's lawyers can usually be relied upon to take the soft option and yesterday's verdict on David Beckham's "cleverness" was no exception. The governing body's compliance department, after considering the case of the England captain's deliberate yellow card, decided there was "insufficient evidence to pursue a disciplinary charge".

Instead Beckham was merely "reminded of his responsibilities and the rules of conduct he is expected to adhere to both as an England player and as captain."

At first sight this seems a mind-boggling verdict because Beckham had admitted the offence in a newspaper interview. It was felt, however, that this "confession" would not stand up to a legal challenge. With football's world governing body, Fifa (whose president Sepp Blatter had criticised Beckham), accepting the decision, Beckham is in the clear. This will be a relief to the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, and to Beckham's and the national team's sponsors, who all hope Beckham will recover from a broken rib in time to lead England in a friendly in Madrid next month.

The furore began after Beckham, having been injured in one foolhardy tackle on Ben Thatcher late in the World Cup qualifier against Wales on 9 October, was cautioned for an even cruder challenge on the Manchester City player. Having been booked previously in the campaign this triggered a one-match ban.

Beckham, angered at media criticism of what appeared a loss of temper, subsequently had his advisers initiate an interview in which he claimed he wanted to be cautioned because he knew he had broken a rib in the first challenge and would miss England's trip to Azerbaijan last week in any event. Such actions are not uncommon: one former Manchester United player made a habit of being suspended at Christmas. Players at Real Madrid, Beckham's club, are notorious for provoking cautions to clear their charge sheet and it is suspected Beckham did that in the Champions' League quarter-final, first leg last year.

On that occasion it misfired as Monaco unexpectedly overturned the 4-2 deficit in the second leg. This time it misfired because Beckham, who said in the interview that "I am sure some people think that I have not got the brains to be that clever'', was stupid enough to go public. This brought Blatter into play and meant, to the annoyance of several England players, that England's victory amid difficult conditions in Azerbaijan was overshadowed.

Beckham apologised, admitting he had "made a mistake", but the compliance unit felt neither this admission, nor the original one, was evidence enough to prosecute a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

Beckham's written explanation to the FA is thought to have differed significantly from the printed interview and when the compliance unit, aware that Beckham would hire expensive legal counsel, was rebuffed in an attempt to obtain the tape of his interview the case collapsed.

The FA was at pains yesterday to point out that the compliance unit, headed by Steve Barrow and advised by Jonathan Hall, the FA's director of governance, had reached the decision independently of the FA's executive.

The FA statement said: "Following due process under the FA's disciplinary regulations, the FA's compliance department has reviewed all available information and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to pursue a disciplinary charge. However, David Beckham has been reminded of his responsibilities and the rules of conduct he is expected to adhere to both as an England player and as captain. The FA now considers this matter to be closed."

The game's world governing body, Fifa, responded: "As was made clear by the Fifa president Sepp Blatter last week, this matter is being left to the FA to deal with. Fifa will not take any action."

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