Jean-Philippe Mateta celebrates with his Crystal Palace teammates (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Brighton were recently awarded a penalty against Crystal Palace in the Premier League when Georginio Rutter was brought down in the penalty area.
However, VAR decided to overturn the sanction after reviewing the incident. It appears that Rutter managed to dive clearly inside the area. Initially, the referee decided to punish Jaydee Canvot for his foul on the Brighton striker, but upon review it was evident that the Brighton star was playing for the decision.
Georginio Rutter deserved severe punishment
Keith Hackett has now suggested the player should have been punished more harshly for his dive. He believes yellow cards are not enough punishment for players who tend to dive at every opportunity. The lack of proper punishment encourages players to cheat when it comes to contact inside the box.
Hackett urged PGMOL to take additional steps to discourage cheating in the game.
Examples must be given
Speaking to Football Insider, Hackett said: “The only way to address simulation is with a one-match ban. I would like to see a review panel, which meets on a weekly basis, and where acts of simulation are not dealt with by referees, they should be reported, and a review panel should take a retrospective approach to punishing.
“If they continue to get away with it, they will. We are at a point where the slightest contact, instead of the player going on and taking a shot at goal, will go to the ground and ask for a penalty. There is no incentive not to do that. A yellow card is insufficient. There is almost an incentive to go to the ground.”
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace will be pleased that VAR ruled out the officials’ penalty appeal. Rutter will be fully aware of what he did to win a penalty for Brighton, and one can only hope that he does not repeat these acts of simulation in the future.
