Rafael’s Miconduct Charge – Where is the ‘Respect’?

The flashpoint of our Sunday night’s game against Spurs was undoubtedly the red-card-that-wasn’t that was shown to Rafael da Silva. Till that point, and barring the tackle which got him his first yellow, Rafael had been magnificent. He’d kept Bale under check for almost the entire period, restrcting him to only a couple of good crosses. He was also brilliant going forward- the moment in the second half when he left around four Tottenham players on their backsides before misplacing his final pass was the first time United fans would’ve seen one of our boys go past so many players since CR7 left. And then, suddenly, just as it was poised to become and explosive finish to what had been a decent game till then, it was all over.

Why? Because Mike Dean felt that a player slowing down to stay back form his opponent, with his arms raised, and barely brushing the back of his opponent’s foot, deserved a yellow card. A SECOND yellow at that. How often have we heard the phrase “Well, if that had been his first yellow, he might have got one but since this would have been a dismissal, he gets off with a warning”. For a decision which was dubious at best even for a first yellow, a dismissal is just a massive heap of unfairness dumped on a 20-year-old playing on the world’s biggest stage. And playing brilliantly at that. In a fair world, I’d say he is entitled to look the man in the face and say ‘What For’, which is what Rafael did if you were watching the telecast. And yet, the FA levelled a misconduct charge against him, because Mike Dean actually went out and took the pain to REPORT the incident after the match.

The underlying motive behind the reporting is presumably that Rafael violated the FA’s ‘Respect’ Campaign. And here’s what the mighty FA defines the campaign as:

Respect is the collective responsibility of everyone involved in football, at all levels, to create a fair, safe and enjoyable environment in which the game can take place. It is the behavioural code for football.

I presume Mike Dean falls under ’everyone involved in football’, even if his right to that involvement is questionable  right now. As a person whose foremost reposibility would be to create the ‘fair’ environment mentioned in the definition, Mike Dean has failed. Not only in the one decision against Rafael, but even in consistency across games, as shows here in the image from popular blogger RoM:

 The picture shows our favourite Captain, Leader, Legend practically snatching a red card from Mike Dean’s hand, when Mikel was sent off at Old Trafford a couple of seasons ago. However there was no report to the FA then. No ‘misconduct’ charges against the most upright footballer in the League. Surely Mike Dean has failed the test of ‘fairness’ on multiple counts here? If so, who reports him? Respect is reciprocated feeling, and Mike Dean did not make great strides towards earning it to expect to be shown some on Sunday. To quote the ancient Latin wiseguy who came up with it, and Dan Brown after him, quis custodiet ipsos custodet?

Human error is inevitable. It’s happened time and time again, and to all clubs. Getting decisions in home games and not getting them in away games happens to all clubs too. But misconduct charges, the FA and Manchester United seem to have a special relation. Ferdinand got slapped with one for his elbow against Wolves based on videographic evidence AFTER the match, while the rest of the league went about kicking, shoving and punching anyway.  Technology in football may never see the light of day till after my time, but for a game this old, whose rules are this old, and an Association which has been around since the dinosaurs (maybe that’s the problem), consistency is surely not too much to ask.