Cardiff City’s Craig Bellamy has been charged by The FA for violent conduct following an incident which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
The incident occurred during Cardiff’s game against Swansea City on Saturday 8 February 2014. Bellamy has until 6pm on Tuesday 11 February 2014 to respond to the charge.
Under a new pilot project in Premier League matches this season, if an incident has not been seen by the match officials, a three-man panel of former elite referees will be asked by The FA to review it and advise what, if any action, they believe the match referee should have taken had it been witnessed at the time.
For an FA charge to follow, all three panel members must agree it is a sending-off offence. In this instance, the panel were of the unanimous decision that it was an act of violent conduct.
The panel were also asked to review an incident involving Manchester City’s Yaya Toure during the game against Norwich City on Saturday 8 February 2014. In this instance, the panel were not of the unanimous decision that it was an act of violent conduct.
