When Chelsea Football Club suffered a crazy 3-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United on Oct. 28, the match, despite its exciting back-and-forth nature, was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Chelsea had two players receive red cards under controversial circumstances, and the game-winning goal scored by United’s Javier Hernández came from an offside position. But while referee Mark Clattenburg and his crew created controversy with those calls, it was something that Clattenburg said to one of the Chelsea players that has sparked a firestorm of media attention.
After Hernández’s goal gave United the 3-2 lead, Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel confronted Clattenburg, seeking to voice his opinion that the goal should not have counted.
Clattenburg was having none of it, and brandished the yellow card for the Nigerian veteran’s dissent. However, in the aftermath of the incident, several Chelsea players allege to have heard Clattenburg direct a racial slur at Mikel, with claims stating the player was called a “monkey”, though Mikel reportedly did not hear it himself.
Mikel was told of the incident shortly thereafter and confronted Clattenburg in the referee’s locker room after the match, while Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo was complaining to the match official about the game’s calls.
The club then filed an official complaint to the Football Association (FA), which oversees all football in England, about Clattenburg’s alleged behavior, which the referee vehemently denies.
While waiting for a decision to come down on this incident, the referees have remained firmly where they shouldn’t be: in the spotlight.
According to British newspaper The Sun, former Premier League referee Clive Wilkes believes that referees are considering boycotting matches in which Chelsea is involved due to the club’s history of problems with referees.
In 2005, then-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was shown a red card by referee Anders Frisk in a Champions League match against Barcelona, which angered much of the Chelsea management, squad, and fanbase.
Then-manager José Mourinho accused Frisk of meeting with his Barcelona counterpart, Frank Rijkaard, in the referee room during half-time, an act which is against The Union of European Football Associations’ regulations.
Mourinho received a suspension for his accusations, and the club was charged with improper conduct. Frisk reportedly received death threats from Chelsea supporters in the days following the match, and retired just two weeks after the match was played due to the threats.
In 2009, again facing Barcelona in the Champions League, referee Tom Henning Ovrebo was harassed by players during and after the match as he failed to award Chelsea penalty kicks on numerous occasions, and Barcelona salvaged a draw that saw them reach the final.
After that match, Drogba confronted Ovrebo and later shouted “it’s a f—— disgrace” into the television camera. He received a four-match suspension, while the club was fined over €80,000 ($101,600) for improper conduct by its players and fans after yet more death threats targeted Ovrebo.
So in some ways, football fans should not be surprised by Chelsea taking action against another referee who they feel has done them wrong. They know they were hard done by, and it cost them a vital win against a key rival.
While the accusations this time around are certainly much more disconcerting than merely blown calls in the match, the stage that this is getting to is ridiculous.
Referees should not be boycotting matches of a certain club just because they have been accused of wrongdoing by that club. And the club certainly should not be throwing around accusations like this without substantial evidence.
Chelsea defender John Terry received a four-match ban from the FA after he was accused and found guilty of directing a racial slur at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, which was caught on camera.
Unlike the Terry situation, the Mikel incident is based solely off hearsay, and Mikel himself wasn’t even aware of the incident at the time. For the club to spring to his side like this is admirable, but for it to have escalated to this level is a black mark on what has been a thrilling Premier League season.
