Quote:
Originally Posted by iadom
Well they haven’t been banned, the whole team isn’t of Albanian descent like these three players are so why should the whole team protest. One of them had a father imprisoned as a political prisoner for a few years so had good reason to make his point.
You could even argue it was a just response to all the Serbian fans parading round with pictures of convicted war criminals emblazoned on their shirts, waving provocative flags and chanting vile insults. 
Personally I would not class ethnic cleansing as just ‘shady crap’ .  |
But it doesn't belong on a pitch.
Every major FA in Europe alongside Uefa and FIFA seem to think it doesn't and again I'm inclined to agree. I'm not referring to this specific event as shady crap. I'm pointing out that there's things happening every single day that someone could take issue with and make such gestures about. We can't let it come to that. Regardless of our own or their moral stance on it, you have to punish it to deter it. As for the team side of it. I didn't really mean a team protest, I was referring to things like the home nation poppy kits. FIFA aren't just cherry picking though. We've seen this with Celtic fans a while back.
Serbia also received punishment for the same thing. So in haste earlier a fine for the players was fair. It would be inappropriate to issue bans when it's harder to identify supporters and punish them thus the Serbian FA deals with the fine.
I'd like to move on though because there's naturally a few gripes I have about that Portugal game. Unsure how you can give the Iran spot kick with VAR. I thought the standard of Premier League refereeing was horrid. Pointless calling into question that Ronaldo penalty then? Can't be the only one that noticed the goalkeeper starts behind the line, gets a run at it and is well off the line when the kick is taken, he's almost charged it down. It really should've been a retake and a yellow card offence.
The flailing arm, nothing in it to be fair. I've seen them given as red plenty of times but I'd be miffed if an England player was sent off for that.