Referee Mike Jones On Championship Duty After Sunderland's 'Beach Ball' Goal Against Liverpool
The ref has been temporarily moved down a level as Benitez remains philosophical...
Mike Jones will referee in the Championship next weekend after controversially allowing Sunderland's winning goal against Liverpool to stand on Saturday.
Darren Bent's shot struck a beach ball thrown onto the pitch by a Liverpool fan and deflected past Pepe Reina into the net. Although most observers were ignorant of the precise rules governing such an incident, it later transpired that the goal should have been disallowed.
FIFA's laws of the game state "the referee should stop, suspend or abandon the match because of outside interference of any kind". The game should therefore have re-started with a dropped ball.
The Premier League today confirmed that the match would not be replayed, but Jones will now officiate the game between Peterborough United and Scunthorpe United at London Road.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez accepted that there was little the Reds could do now, but hoped that the incident would at least make things clearer in the future.
"We know there was a mistake, so that's it," he mused to reporters at a press conference today. "We don't want to change things, and we cannot change things so it's better to move forward.
"From the bench I couldn't see the ball. After when we watched the replay we were surprised because we thought it was a balloon. It was more than a balloon!
"But I think it's clear, all the experts agree that the goal could be disallowed, and that's it. So now in the future it will maybe be easier for the rest of the teams.
"I think it's just a special situation so hopefully in the future it will not happen again. It's something that you cannot stop, the referee has to see these things before."
http://www.talkaloadofbull.com/en/news/9/england/2009/10/19/1570855/referee-mike-jones-on-championship-duty-after-sunderlands