Sports

Greenwood red card rescinded following absurd Federation statement

Published

4 months ago

January 5, 2024

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have rescinded the red card given to Getafe forward and Manchester United loanee Mason Greenwood on Tuesday. Referee Jorge Figueroa Vazquez had sent Greenwood off after wrongly assuming that he had been told to ‘F*** off’..

Greenwood was fouled as he tried to break free of Rayo Vallecano defenders on Tuesday, and after a Getafe appeal using video evidence, they have demonstrated that Greenwood said ‘One, two, three, four [fouls], f***’. Figueroa heard the f-bomb and assumed that it was directed at him, pulling out a straight red card for the Manchester United loanee.

The RFEF have admitted their error in a surreal statement detailing the above, and wiped any suspension for Greenwood. They state that they do not want to re-referee matches or decisions, but admit a clear error in the referee’s assessment of the situation. Had the decision stood, he would have faced a two to four game ban.

Getafe had protested the decision, with manager Jose Bordalas claimed that Greenwood did not speak Spanish, and explained he was not trying to insult anyone, while Getafe player Juan Iglesias said he would buy dinner for anyone that could find a video of Greenwood insulting the referee.

Abstract of Statement:

The task of this disciplinary body is not to re-referee the matches, without determining, where appropriate, the existence of a manifest material error in the referee’s description of the action. As has been said here, only proof of an error of this type can distort the assessment made by the referee and, consequently, the veracity of what was recorded in the minutes.”

“The repeated viewing of the images, in fact, has allowed this Committee to conclude, beyond any doubt, that the action that led to the expulsion did not occur as described by the referee and, ultimately, prove the material error manifest in the referee’s report. These images demonstrate that the player actually said “One, two, three, four, f***.”