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Beckham red card overturned by Spanish FA
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-26 08:39
MADRID, Oct 25 (Reuters) - David Beckham's red card near the end of Real
Madrid's 2-1 defeat by Valencia on Sunday was overturned by the Spanish Football
Federation (RFEF) on Tuesday.
Real Madrid's David
Beckham (C) screams at referee Dauden Ibanez (L) after being expelled
during a Spanish League football match between Real Madrid and Valencia at
the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. Valencia won 2-1.
[AFP] | The decision means the England captain
will be able to play in Real's league match at Deportivo Coruna on Wednesday.
Real said that the Federation's Competitions Committee had brought forward
their weekly meeting in order to deal with a number of matters including their
appeal and had informed the club that Beckham was now free to play.
Beckham was sent off three minutes from the end of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at the
Bernabeu by referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez after receiving a booking for dissent
and then a straight red card for applauding the decision "in a sarcastic
manner".
But Real appealed against the red card saying that video evidence and
photographs showed that Beckham's clapping was "neither scornful nor sarcastic."
The Competitions Committee decided that Beckham's clapping formed part of his
initial protest and therefore the player should only have been punished with the
initial booking and not an additional red card.
"The clapping took place when the player's back was turned to the referee and
when he was returning to his position on the pitch," said the Committee.
"Although the action is worthy of reproach it was not done in direct
confrontation and is seen as part of his original protest.
"Neither the incidents themselves nor the referee's report suggest that there
was an intention to insult or slight the referee."
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