A red card opens a new file in the laws of English football sports

An independent disciplinary committee of the English Football Association issued a detailed report containing the reasons for upholding the three-match ban imposed on Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez, stressing that hair pulling “must not be tolerated.”

The Independent Regulatory Commission rejected the appeal submitted by Manchester United against the penalty and red card received by the 28-year-old Argentine player.

Martinez was immediately expelled for violent behavior after he pulled the hair of Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin during the match that ended with United’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford, where referee Paul Tierney reviewed the incident under the guidance of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

In its report, the committee acknowledged that other forms of violent behavior carry “a much higher risk of harm to the opponent”, but stressed that “in the wider interests of football, hair pulling must not be tolerated and such behavior should be stopped through a fixed penalty.”

The committee explained that although hair pulling is not explicitly mentioned in the laws of the game, it is classified as “violent behavior,” noting that it cannot be considered a legitimate act when competing for the ball.

The incident occurred in the second half when United were trailing (0-2), as Martinez tried to stop Calvert-Lewin by grabbing his hair in a competition without the ball after the Argentine player was hit in the face.

For his part, Manchester United coach Michael Carrick attacked the decision, describing it as “one of the worst decisions.”

Carrick believed that the expulsion was a “clear and obvious error” by referee Tierney, arguing that Martinez was “off balance and struggling,” and that the act was not “pushing, pulling, or aggressive.”

However, after reviewing the footage, the committee stated that it could not say with certainty that the contact was minor.

The committee members unanimously agreed that the referee did not commit an “obvious error” in sending Martinez off, stressing that the cases must be “exceptional” for the punishment to be considered excessive.

According to the decision, Martinez missed the away win against Chelsea last week, and will miss the matches between Brentford (April 27) and Liverpool (May 3).

In a related context, the English Premier League’s “Key Match Incident” (KMI) committee reviewed the incident and voted (4-1) on the validity of the red card.

The report also referred to a precedent that occurred last January, when Everton failed to overturn the expulsion of its player Michael Keane for pulling the hair of Wolves striker Tolu Arokudari, an incident that sparked coach David Moyes’ anger towards the Appeals Committee and the Video Assistant Referee Chris Kavanagh.