03-01-2015, 12:59
Football wins in the end which is the main thing. It was a pretty minor administrative error in the first place and giving the clubs a chance to settle it on the pitch was the most just solution. Compare it to UEFA's decision to award Celtic a 3-0 win over Legia after the Poles had gubbed them 4-1 at Celtic Park (6-1 on aggregate) but fielded a suspended player in the last few minutes because their interpretation of a vague UEFA rule led them to believe his suspension had already been served. No one in Europe thought Celtic deserved to get through that tie, but UEFA wouldn't consider any sort of replay.
In the age of digital databases and instant access, I think that it if football associations want to apply strict regulations with at times draconian punishments then they should themselves be responsible for maintaining a register of who is eligible to play in any given match at any given time. All a club would then have to do is check before kick off that that everyone they put out is fine to play, and any issues arising later are clear cut. It's also ludicrous that so much paperwork has to be processed when a digital form and digital signatures are as legally valid as paper. Football is the only thing keeping the fax machine alive.
In the age of digital databases and instant access, I think that it if football associations want to apply strict regulations with at times draconian punishments then they should themselves be responsible for maintaining a register of who is eligible to play in any given match at any given time. All a club would then have to do is check before kick off that that everyone they put out is fine to play, and any issues arising later are clear cut. It's also ludicrous that so much paperwork has to be processed when a digital form and digital signatures are as legally valid as paper. Football is the only thing keeping the fax machine alive.