Chelsea Lodge Formal Complaint Over ‘Inappropriate Language’ Used By Mark Clattenburg – Referee Alleged To Have Racially Insulted Mikel And Mata
By Chris Wright
Chelsea have lodged a formal complaint with the FA over what they call ‘inappropriate language’ directed at their players by referee Mark Clattenburg during yesterday evening’s incident-packed ripsnorter against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea issued the following statement:
“We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regards to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents in today’s match.”
“The match delegate will pass the complaint to the Football Association. We will make no further comment at this time.”
A spokesman for the Professional Game Match Officials board (referees’ union) said:
“PGMO is aware of the allegations and they are being treated with the utmost seriousness. Mark will co-operate fully and welcomes the opportunity for the facts to be established.
“No further comment will be made until this matter has been properly investigated.”
The ‘inappropriate language’ is, almost inevitably, believed to be of a racial nature (’tis the season to be racist after all), with reports that one of the slurs was directed at John Obi Mikel when he confronted Clattenburg after United’s iffy third goal and that the other instance centres around the referee calling one of the Chelsea players – thought to be Juan Mata – a ‘Spanish twat.’
Again, we must stress that these are nothing but rumours as things stand.
It’s incredibly hard to believe that a Premier League referee (who was, lest we forget, ‘miked up’ and whose every word could be heard by at least three or four other members of the officiating team) could be so callous, but we’ll have to reserve full judgement until the truth comes to light.
Named And Shamed: 37 English Clubs Offering Unpaid Jobs – Sporting Intelligence
2013 Champions League Final Viewing Companion – Dirty Tackle
Very Best Of ESPN FC's Toe Poke Blog 2012/13
The 'Transfer Talks' Flowchart – Football Cliches
Remembering Ivan Turina – A Football Report
Moyes Has Done Sod All To Deserve United Job – Johnny Nic For F365
Anfield: The Victims, The Anger And The Shameful Truth – Guardian
The A-Z Of Football Boot Brands – The Boot Room
Man Utd Coach Delivers Opinion On Rooney's Form – Off The Post
19 Rules Of Playing Football When You're A Kid – BuzzFeed
Please for the life of me .. would someone tell me how is “Spanish Twat” racist. My wife is Spanish. She has a twat. In other words, she has a Spanish twat. If she was from Portugal, she would have a Portuguese twat. This is bull kaka in its purist form.
He should be under review for being a shite ref rather than these empty threats. Regardless Clattenburg and Webb are both knobs and need to be dropped. i say implement the Bundesliga point system.
I’d find it incredible IF this were true, as you’d expect players to have zero tolerance for any racist language. Thing is, he might just have been repeating what he heard Torres says earlier etc etc etc
The mics at Goodison were picking up some choice abuse from some rather vocal Everton fans, whilst we’re on calling somebody a “Spanish swears”. At one point, Enrique was battling with Fellaini near the side of the pitch when somebody bellowed:
“GET THE F*CK OFF HIM, YOU SPANISH C*NT!”
I ask you.
I think that the issue here is regarding the blatant impartiality of the referee. At no stage in any match should he be abusing individual players, racistly or not, from either team. The role of the ref is to remain a cool impartial head whilst those around him may be losing theirs, and if they start joining in with any form of abuse this clearly violates the point of the role.
If Clattenberg is found guilty, then the only action that can be taken is immediate sacking, in my opinion.
And a token 2 week wage fine of course.
@rayrayray Yes, I’ll tell you why calling someone a Spanish twat is racist. If I wanted to call your wife a twat I would just call her a twat. There’s no need to call her a Spanish twat, she’s just a twat. There’s no need to bring her nationality into it.
And saying your wife has a twat is not the same as calling her a twat. Your wife is a twat. She also has a twat. See the difference?
For the record, I don’t know if your wife is a twat or not.
+1 +1 +1 +1 +1
I might be being simplistic here, but can someone explain to me without diving into “it’s just not right” kind of arguments how calling someone a “Spanish twat” is fundamentally different from, say, a “big blond twat” (i.e. me) or a “speccy twat” (er, me again) or similar?
I’m not condoning Clatterberg in the slightest – as someone pointed out he *should* stay above these things – but I’m guessing I’m not the only a bit tired of the “you racist twat” (oops) bandwagon.
As it goes, I don’t think calling someone a Spanish twat is racist. Clattenburg’s not (potentially) calling Mata a Spanish twat BECAUSE he’s Spanish, it’s merely because he’s a twat. Obviously there’s no need to bring his nationality into it, but the slander isn’t the ‘Spanish’ bit, it’s the ‘twat’ bit.
It’s the whole John Terry Black C*** thing again.
So are these ref’s mics recorded?
If so then surely he has to have said it otherwise Chelsea would be absolutely fucking ridiculous to lodge a complaint if they weren’t 10000% sure he did.
I must admit I’ve never been a Clatternburg fan but I cant imagine any ref calling someone a twat let alone using racial slurs, especially right now. If he has then he is a complete fool and will probably get the sack which although maybe understandable would make Terry and Suarez’s fines and bans an absolute joke.
@rayrayray
Telling your Spanish wife she has a twat is not the same as calling someone a Spanish twat, unless that person was actually a large Spanish vagina with arms and legs.
They arent recorded but they are open to the other 3 officials so they would have heard every word.
If it happened, do they cover it up and deny hearing anything or do they drop Clattenberg in it.
Id be shocked if he said it and even if he did, he should get 4 games just like Chelseas own racist did, they backed him all the way though it so they cant complain.
Just as well he didn’t say it in Spanish, as that’s apparently twice as serious in the FA’s book.
Clatterberg is an arrogant twat, he should have been a Premier league footballer, not a referee.I’m surprised SAF has’nt signed him up to play for United although judging from his performance, maybe he has.
Is it just me or does Clatterberg look a bit like JT with that twatty haircut in the above picture?
Stevie G enjoys Clattenburg’s ‘banter’: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ANmFyoITK_EC&pg=PA236&dq=gerrard+clattenburg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GLuOULrMIsfBhAfgkIHIDg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=gerrard%20clattenburg&f=false
If Clattenburg is found guilty of racial abuse, RDM will presumably have to name him captain.
Firstly, these players are lying and secondly, they have no grounds for complaint if the ref was indeed rascist.
They both kept quiet when their captain was seen on video calling Anton Ferdinand a ‘Black Cunt’ thus they should keep quiet now that they’re the victims of this supposed attaCk
sounds a bit like “Pot Calling the Kettle Black”
Or is that now a racist remark as well
Seriously even if he did say those things, 2 weeks wages and a four game ban. Why treat him any differently than the players ?
Apparently neither Mata nor Mikel heard it but Ramires or Luiz might have overheard it !!! That’s Luiz and Ramires whose mother tongue is Portuguese and probably couldn’t pick out the subtle linguistic intonations of a Geordie accent if their lives depended upon it.
Come on its laughable that Chelsea’s chief executives took the decision to report this. They clearly don’t have the judgement required to be running monster organizations that live every day in the public eye. They’re no better than kids in the playground who want to get their own back. But then again that’s the environment they still live in……………
And now the story changes …only a slur against Mikel
And then the misinterpretation
And then …..case dropped…again
Clattenberg get a good solicitor..sue for defamation and slander