2013-04-21 : Fight Analysis
Important Points
The game was called off as players safety could no longer be reasonably guaranteed.
The penalties are so severe because we absolutely require players to remain in control for their own safety.
All penalties are based upon the video footage or on first person observations from Tianjin Futsal Staff.
Any questions or queries about this incident should be directed to Konrad Steinmuller.
Overview
In a close game between two evenly matched sides, Off in the Woods took an early lead.
An argument about the legitimacy of a goal scored by Kings Club has led to accusations of referee bias, and an increase in the tension of the game
Adam (Off in the Woods) performs a clumsy tackle on Player #16 and is rightfully given a yellow card.
Soon after Adam and Player #16 have another clash with Adam ending up on the ground. Adam then confronts Player #16 with pushing and shoving.
The keeper runs in and does a flying kick to the back of Adam. After this the game is called off.
Ben (King's Club Captain) has accused Off in the Woods of racist remarks.
King's Club - Keeper
| Description | Without being previously involved in the events, once the fight started the keeper ran from his goal square and landed a flying kick to the left shoulder, and a push to the head of Adam (Off in the Woods). Adam was facing the other way and the attack was completely unexpected. |
|---|---|
| Severity | High - with light contact to the head and heavy contact to the upper body/shoulder while wearing football boots. The victim was completely unaware of the attack. |
| Injury? | No significant injury |
| Justification | The incident leading up to the kick by KCK was relatively minor. Nobody had been hurt, there had been some pushing during the scuffle but nobody had been struck. The incident had been calming down until KCK decided to attack the Off in the Woods Player. Apparently Player #16 and the Keeper are friends. There was no real justification for the attack. |
| Ramifications | Behaviour like this have the ability to seriously injure other players as well as turn a scuffle into a full on melee. Such an action has the potential to shut down the entire Tianjin Futsal League. |
| Penalty | Player - Banned for Life Kings Club - Fine RMB1000 (for striking/fighting behaviour) |
Off in the Woods - Adam
| Description | The first incident is Adam executing a careless tackle. It did not appear particularly malicious, and Adam did apologize eventually, however it was very clumsy and deserved the Yellow Card result.
In the second incident Adam was pushed lightly from behind by Player #16 who was going for the ball. There was nothing of concern in the contact. Immediately after Adam runs directly past Player #16 on a trajectory that would have caused him to contact Player #16. While I believe that Adam was going for the ball (based on the turning of his head towards the ball) he has not changed his trajectory or his speed significantly and he instead collided with Player #16. Player #16 has used his left arm and right elbow to fend him off causing him to fall to the ground. Player #16 did not move into Adam's path, but in fact appeared to check his initial movement to stop moving into Adam's Direct path. Upon falling over, Adam has gotten up, immediately called for the free which the referee has already blown and decided to approach Player #16 aggressively even though Player #16 has not appeared to want to follow up the incident. For the next 5 seconds Adam advances, pushing and appearing to want to start a fight while Player #16 retreats. Eventually things calm down and Adam retreats only to be kicked from behind by the King's Club Goalie. After a little more pushing and advancing on the goalie, the situation is contained. |
|---|---|
| Severity | Medium - It appears that due to careless play, Adam has caused two incidents. Rather than accepting any blame for the incident, Adam has immediately advanced attempting to start a fight. When that was sorted out, he then attempts to continue another fight after the keeper kicks him. |
| Injury? | No Injury |
| Justification | The fight was in retaliation to being pushed over. However Adam ran into Player #16 and Player #16 was in the act of fending off Adam. There was no real justification for Adam attempting to start a fight with Player #16. |
| Ramifications | Such incidents can start serious fights. Tianjin Futsal cannot allow such behaviour in the league as it reduces the safety for all players. |
| Penalty | Player - Suspended for 6 weeks (end of this season + next mini-season) Off in the Woods - Fine RMB500 (for aggressive/pushing behaviour) |
King's Club - Player #16
| Description | Two primary incidents. Involved. First incident when a careless tackle by Adam (Off in the woods) results in a Player #16 being pushed over in a rough way. Referees decision of a yellow card appeared to be reasonable. Adam made a belated apology to Player #16 afterwards.
30 seconds later Adam attempts an intercept with Player #16 behind him attempting to spoil if Adam was successful in gaining the ball. Player #16 made light contact to the back of Adam. This contact appeared appropriate and reasonable in the context of the game. Player #16 then moves towards the ball looking for a pass. Adam follows this player making a direct bee-line for the ball which would have taken him past Player #16. As the ball is passed Adam's head appears to follow the ball. Player #16 appears to believe that Adam was intending to run into him and uses a planted right leg and shove using his right elbow and left hand to push Adam over. There is no immediate follow-up after the incident from Player #16, however when Adam approaches aggressively, Player #16 does push back while retreating but is not interested in continuing the engagement. |
|---|---|
| Severity | LOW - Mostly a case of self defence given Adam's previous aggression. The only concerns were the use of an elbow against a player that did not appear to be looking in his direction. The direction of Adam's run was slightly careless as he was running directly into the player. |
| Injury? | No Injury |
| Justification | It appeared to be an act of reflexive self defence. Perhaps a small amount of retaliation due to Adam's past carelessness. |
| Ramifications | Obviously the action upset Adam, however the actions seemed reasonable and Player #16 was looking to avoid any further confrontation. |
| Penalty | Player - Warning for using an Elbow - Would probably have been a yellow card from the referee. Kings Club - No Penalty |
Off in the Woods - Keeper
| Description | Complained about the refereeing decisions relating to the disputed goal.
Taunted the opposition when Off in the Woods scored a subsequent goal. When the fight started the keeper ran at high speed into the middle of the fight and confronted player #16 rather than his own player. No physical contact was made however. |
|---|---|
| Severity | LOW - this player initiated no physical contact. However there was a measure of disrespect shown to the referee and opposition.
The speed with which he joined the fray could have made the situation worse. |
| Injury? | No Injury |
| Justification | No real justification for being upset about the initial goal decision.
It was a very close decision (one that could not be decided by the camera) so the result was going to be a 50-50 decision. There was a slight hesitation with the call of the goal, but the decision was quick enough that it was not overly apparent that the referee had been influenced by the Kings Club players. |
| Ramifications | The speed of entry into the fray appears to have encouraged other Kings Club members to join in (Ben + Kings Club keeper). If the keeper had run in to restrain his player rather than to confront the opposition player then his contribution would have been viewed in a more positive light. |
| Penalty | Player - Warning for inflammatory language, and for joining the fray. Off in the Woods - No Penalty |
King's Club - Ben
| Description | Once the fight started Ben ran into the middle of the players and pushed the Off In The Woods Keeper. |
|---|---|
| Severity | LOW - Only one push and of medium intensity. However the push was unnecessary as the Off in the Woods keeper had not actually touched anybody. This action could be viewed as inflammatory rather than trying to calm things down. |
| Injury? | No Injury |
| Justification | As captain of the team it should be his responsibility to calm the situation down. While it is appreciated that he was concerned due to the Off in the Woods keeper quickly running into the middle of the players, the pushing was only going to escalate the situation rather than calming things down. |
| Ramifications | When a captain attempts to inflame a situation this effect is usually greater than if a regular player was to inflame the situation. It is very possible that the situation could have gotten further out of control due to the actions of Ben. |
| Penalty | Player - Warning Kings Club - No Penalty |
Other Allegations
- Referee unfairly favoring Kings Club - no real proof of this. The referee is allowed to have a certain amount of decision time, and benefit of the doubt must be given. That King's Club called for the goal is a given as most teams would have done the same. The decision was so close that it was a very hard decision to make. The referee could have called it either way. The rest of the game appeared to be called fairly.
- Accusations of Racist Remarks. Off in the Woods have admitted to using the word "fuck". However none of them have admitted to using racist remarks. I didn't hear anything racist when I was at the field, and I couldn't pick anything up on camera. Without any other evidence it is not possible to issue any other sanction except for a warning to Off in the Woods to keep the language to a minimum. Off in the Woods have subsequently suggested that they may have used the phrase "Fucking Cheats" with relation to the goal incident. It is very possibly that this could have been interpretted as "Fucking Chinks" and hence been the cause of the initial accusation. Regardless of the fact that no evidence of cheating could be substantiated from the video, the statement was completely unnecessary and inflammatory to the opposition. As Off in the Woods have freely provided this information to help resolve the accusation no further sanction will be applied other than a warning about inflammatory language.
Final Summary
- Both teams will not receive any points because each had a player that was directly involved in having the game called off.
- As none of the goal scorers were significantly involved in the incident, the goals scored for the game will stand.
- Kings Club Fined RMB1000 - A dangerous kick to an unsuspecting opponent that could have resulted in serious injury.
- Off in the Woods Fined RMB500 - Player's aggressive actions could have resulted in a more serious melee.
- A notice to all teams to keep language and trash talk to a minimum. We are in China and such behaviour is viewed a lot more negatively than it is overseas. All teams should make an effort to respect the local culture and refrain from such behaviour.
- A notice to all teams about not inflaming situations. If there is a fight on the field, no other player should get involved other than to help stop the fight by restraining their own player. Do not make any attempt to restrain an opposition player.
- Many thanks to the majority of Kings Club and Off in the Woods players who did the right thing and tried to calm things down.
