Not Much Natural Justice In Ferdinand Case? - 28/12/03

Whatever one thinks of the rights and wrongs of Rio Ferdinand's eight month suspension for failing to take a drug test, the usual civil remedies for testing the procedures used do not appear to be available. Fifa boss Sepp Blatter (aka Blather) has been leaning on the FA to take a tough line in the case, having discovered a drugs problem in football that he previously claimed did not exist. It has been suggested that Old Trafford officials are less than pleased with his interventions. Moreover, he has now said 'According to the statutes of Fifa and the member associations, in this case, no recourse may be made to the courts. The highest court would be the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.' Ferdinand can lodge an appeal which would be heard by a panel chaired by an independent QC but with two FA Council members on it. However, if United tries to get a civil court to review the case they have been threatened with suspension by the Champions League.

Ferdinand is being supported by his sponsors Nike who are standing by him and by the players' union. Highly qualified lawyers have argued that Fifa's handling of the whole affair does not stand up to scrutiny. John Hewison, a senior partner with the Manchester-based sports law firm George Davies commented. 'If it had been a criminal case it would have been thrown out because there was no way Rio was ever going to get a fair trial. The FA might claim the commission is independent but the three men who sat on it were all from the FA. It's hard to see how all the publicity that went before the hearing couldn't have influenced them in some way.'

As far as the commission is concerned, a story in the Sun revealed that one of the commission members, Peter Heard, 'co-founded a company which has made up to £1 million from FA contracts. The company, Churston Heard, was hired to find the FA plush new offices at Soho Square. Thet were also employed to sell the FA's former offices at Lancaster Gate and have handled numerous transactions on their behalf.' The Currant Bun emphasised, 'There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Churston Heard in their dealings with the FA - but the business seriously undermines Heard's so-called independence on the panel.'

The larger underlying issue behind this clash is the tension between Europe's big clubs represented by G-14, which includes United, and UEFA about who runs the game.