Rio’s ban shows more inconsistency from the FA

Rio Ferdinand was today banned for 4 matches following his charge for violent conduct.

The charge relates to the incident in the Hull City game where he swung his arm at Craig Fagan.

The incident mirrored an identical incident last month where Liverpool‘s Javier Mascherano swung an arm at a Leeds United player. No charge was brought to Mascherano.

It is yet another in a long line of instances where the FA have shown that there is one rule for United and one rule for everybody else.

Rio’s actions can’t be defended. A player of his standard and experience should keep a cool head in games and what he did is deserving of a ban, but the FA need to show that they’re consistent or they will always remain the joke that they currently are.

As I understand it, there’s a panel that sits on these appeals. It’s actually their job to do so. Adding an extra match to the ban for appealing against it is akin to banning him for making them do their jobs. You couldn’t make it up.

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