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Blatter upset with disciplinary group
Foul on Ronaldo, foul by Bergkamp pointed out by FIFA president
Posted: Tuesday July 07, 1998 10:41 AM
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Blatter hopes to shorten the next World Cup with fewer off days in the first round (Shaun Botterill/Allsport) |
PARIS (AP) -- The boss of soccer had harsh words Tuesday for the
panel that hands out player suspensions at the World Cup, saying it had
rejected his suggestion that it use video replays to assess two hard fouls.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he had pointed out to the
disciplinary committee that TV tapes would show blatant actions by Dutch
striker Dennis Bergkamp against a Yugoslav defender and by a Moroccan
player against Brazilian
superstar Ronaldo. In neither case was a foul called nor later
suspensions handed out by the disciplinary panel, even though Blatter said
he thought such action was justified. "Sure, I saw it," he said when
asked if there was video proof of a suspension-level action by Bergkamp
against Sinisa Mihajlovic in a first-round game. Video replays
showed Bergkamp stomping on Mihajlovic as he lay on the ground. A similar
foul drew a two-game suspension for France's
playmaker, Zinedine Zidane. Blatter said he also had seen video
tapes showing a blatant foul by Said Chiba of Morocco, who
planted his cleats in the left thigh of Ronaldo and left deep scratches.
"In two cases, the FIFA president has drawn the presence of video
evidence to their attention," Blatter said, referring to the disciplinary
panel. "They said, `No, it's not needed.' That's OK. When you have a clean
separation of the different powers in a body, that's their prerogative."
But although he said he didn't order the cases to be reviewed,
Blatter left no doubt he was not happy and would not let the matter die. He
seemed to be particularly upset when it was pointed out that the referee in
the Bergkamp incident, Jose-Manuel Garcia of Spain, had been
picked to handle Wednesday night's France-Croatia
semifinal. "We'll take up this in assessing the World Cup," he said.
"I will have a word with them -- a very serious word." Although
soccer does not use replays to review on-field decisions, FIFA does allow
the use of tapes to ecide the length of suspensions. The most notable case
was in 1994, when an eight-game ban was imposed on Mauro Tassotti for an
elbow to the face of Spain's Luis Enrique during the quarterfinals, a foul
that was missed by the referee. In 75-minute meeting with reporters,
Blatter also said: A crackdown on tackles from behind had worked
to make the game safer and spotlight an aggressive offense. Although it had
led to a flood of ejections and warnings, Blatter said, the rules were
being applied evenly and accurately. "The referees have been logical and at
their best," he said. Blatter also said that, while dangerous
tackling was down, players had resorted to wrestling-like holds and
"textile testing" by pulling shirts of their opponents to drag them out of
position. He said those offenses would be the next targets of referees.
The World Cup might be too long and could be shortened by a week in
its next edition in 2002. Blatter said the field would remain at 32 teams,
where it was raised this year, but organizers might shorten gaps between
first-round games from six to four days and play more games per day. He
said a decision would be reached his fall. Authorities had done
all they could to avoid hooliganism and acted quickly and responsibly when
fan violence erupted in Marseille and Lens early in the tournament. 'We
were prepared. The police in Europe were prepared,' he said. 'But it is not
possible to avoid violence anywhere at any time.' Blatter renewed his call
for btter coordination among European Union nations to prevent known
troublemakers from crossing their borders. The first steps in
his proposed restucturing of FIFA management into a larger service team
would begin with the first meeting of the new executive board Thursday. But
Blatter said the issue of what he would be paid as he changes the
presidency from part-tme to full-time would not come up. "If I am working
100 percent of my time for FIFA, it somehow will compensate me," he said.
"But I will not put it on the agenda. That would be a disgrace to the
organization."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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