Park Life Sport reporter and experienced FA-qualified referee Ben Ware gives his insight on Gabriel Martinelli’s dismissal in Arsenal’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Martinelli’s quick-fire double yellow card caused controversy and Arsenal fans continue to blame match officials for their players’ lack of discipline on the pitch.
Within the space of five seconds, the Brazilian picked up two bookings for a shove on Wolves man Daniel Podence as he took a throw-in followed by barging over Chiquinho as he ran towards goal.
It is a normal occurrence in football to wait for a stoppage in play to award a player a yellow card for a previous foul, as not to stop the passage of play and to allow the game to flow.
Referee Michael Oliver rightly waited for the next dead ball to give Martinelli a deserved card for attempting to delay the restart of play and excessive force in his push on Podence.
Arsenal’s indiscipline cost them yet again as Martinelli committed another foul deserving of a caution just five seconds after his first, leading to two separate yellows once play had stopped.
This is not as uncommon as everyone seems to believe, with Premier League fans’ bubble leaving them unaware of other football’s going on. It has happened numerous times in the Bundesliga when players have been booked for removing their shirt and jumping into the crowd, two yellows given at once with a red following.
Referees are well within their rights to hand out two yellows and in all seriousness it should be done more often, with the apparent taboo now out the window. There is no point moaning at the referee for rightfully enforcing the laws of the game.
Under the aforementioned laws of the game, the FA states, “where two separate cautionable offences are committed (even in close proximity), they should result in two cautions,” showing that Michael Oliver was correct to do so.
The argument seems more moral than fact based, was it right to send him off rather than was it correct? It would have been easy enough and less controversial to give just one yellow but in the eyes of the laws of the game, Oliver made the correct decision which we would all expect him to do.
If we want officials to bend the rules and not follow the written laws, can we really complain when they make mistakes? Long story short, Oliver was right and Arsenal need to take a long hard look at themselves.
