Chelsea Bringing Trouble On Themselves?
Back in July, whilst the FA were picking over the bones of Chelsea groundsman, Sam Bethell’s fisticuffs with Patrice Evra and duly issuing charges, I wrote an article asking how the club might react should the charges against Bethell be proved.
As it turns out, the charges were subsequently dropped, although this is far from the end of the matter. You see, Bethell wasn’t found not guilty of improper conduct and using racially abusive language because fortunately for him, Chelsea had apparently failed to mention in his contract that he was subject to the FA’s rules and regulations. So, for Bethell, this meant the FA didn’t have disciplinary jurisdiction over his behaviour.
For Chelsea however, this means that not only are they in trouble for failing to make sure their groundsman didn’t take unofficial breaks in the middle of his duties to wind up whoever happened to be warming down at the time, but also for breach of an FA Rule, which stipulates that all contracts of employment “between a Club and any Club Official, Player or any other employee of the Club” must specify that “the individual is directly under the disciplinary control of the Club and of the [Football] Association”. So, surprise, surprise, the club have found themselves up on charges on Bethell’s behalf.
What I don’t understand though, is firstly how Chelsea have yet again allowed themselves to get into another embarrassing situation as a direct result of incompetence and secondly how they’ve got the front to come out and try to defend their position with such outrage.
The club is saying “Chelsea FC will contest the charges. We are surprised and extremely disappointed that the decision to charge the club was made almost five months after the incident.” But why wouldn’t it take that long? An investigation needed to be conducted into the events and during that investigation, whilst witness statements were being taken and CCTV footage was being examined, it transpires that one of the parties facing charges didn’t even have a proper contract.So who’s fault is that? If whoever was in charge of contracts had done their job properly in the first place maybe the investigation could’ve been done and dusted by now and Bethell could’ve been dealt with accordingly?
I just don’t understand how Chelsea FC, who let’s face it, want to be one of the top clubs in Europe, can’t organise something as basic as a groundsman’s contract. Hardly surprising they’ve now found themselves with a member of staff who’d probably look more at home in the middle of a rugby scrum than on top of a ride-on mower. Did anyone remember they needed to check references as well? I mean, this is after all, a man who seems to think the grass grows so out of hand during the course of a game, he couldn’t possibly allow anyone to warm down on it. That was what he was doing right? Saving Evra from his fate as a result of potentially lethal undergrowth?
Well, what else could he have been doing? Because according to Chelsea “no racist language was used and Sam Bethell was doing no more than trying to defend himself.” And yet the footage clearly showed Bethell launching himself at Evra whilst being held back by several stewards and ground staff. Of course I realise Evra looked to be doing the same, but he has his own FA hearing (presumably because he does have a legitimate contract) and I don’t actually remember seeing Manchester United defending his behaviour.
What I don’t understand is why Chelsea are going to such lengths to defend Bethell, anyone can cut grass right? So is it because it’s about racism? The club has said “Chelsea FC is deeply committed to stamping out racist behavior and would never condone it.” But couldn’t that be exactly what they are doing?
Filed under: Rants
He did allow Evra et al to warm down but asked them to move to another part of the pitch. Hardly an unreasonable request. However, Evra et al took offense and then the abuse started. I have it on good authority that the abuse between both parties was unsightly but not racist. That was merely an excuse to stop charges against Evra being brought before the CL final as a deeper investigation was necessary.
Steve - You are essentially saying that United’s captain, United’s assistant manager, and three other players, are ALL lying and falsely accusing someone of racism. You’re wrong.
Players are allowed to warm down, but are forbidden from doing so in the penalty area, which was what the groundsmen, in the course of their duties, wanted to prevent them from doing. Players know the rules but wilfully ignored them. Chelsea only had a couple of days befor the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final and were instructed to prepare the pitch immediately. There first job was not to cut the grass, as SAF joked and lied, but hoovering the debris from the pitch.
Clearly all the United players are lying to prevent their team-mate from being punished for running fully 30 yards to attack someone who was doing their job properly according to the rules. Team-mates cover for each other, especially beaten team-mates disappointed with their result. Lie, lie and lie again. And then lie some more. Claiming that a frenchman heard a racist comment in another language before his English teammates did isn’t credible, but the United players have no choice. Evra has no other defence for racing 30 yards with the express intent of attacking someone simply doing his job properly according to the rules. It demeans those who are real victims of racism.
Fortunately, Evra’s attack resulted in no harm to his intended victim and backfired on him. Bethell is only guilty of defending himself successfully.
The FA rule that all employees are subject to FA disciplinary action is risible. By that definition, Kenyon’s secretary and the box office staff are also subject directly to FA rules. It is ludicrous. Completely and totally ludicrous. Chelsea are quite right not to include this unjustifiable requirement in the contract of a groundsman, or any other staff of this type.
Squiddy, first, are you seriously suggesting Evra ran 30 yards and attacked Bethell simply because he politely asked “can you move out of the penalty area please”? Behave, that goes beyond naive. And second, why exactly is it that you think Chelsea shouldnt have to adhere to the same rules around contracts as every other club?
Evra ran (when others didn’t) because he misheard what was shouted at him from 30 yards away in a language that isn’t his own. His mistake. He lost it because he was upset at losing to his team’s biggest rivals. Same as Rio, who was also upset and kicked a wall (and missed).
Chelsea should ignore stupid rules applied to people who the FA rightfully have no reasonable jurisdiction over. This was the decision of the lawyers. The lawyers made no criticism of Chelsea for not including daft terms in a contract. It was the daft people who made up the daft rule who complained - the FA.
It’s none of their business.