Chelsea Defender Gets 12 Month Ban For Spitting

By: Daryl | September 5th, 2008

Don’t worry Chelsea fans, it’s not John Terry. But it is a defender with the potential to partner Terry in seasons to come: young Serbian centre back Slobodan Rajković.

In 2005 Chelsea valued the then 16 year old Rajković highly enough to pay OFK Beograd €5.2m for his services. A record for a player aged under 18 at the time (or at least so says Wikipedia).

The 19 year old went to the Olympics with Serbia this summer (he was one of our 20 players to watch in Beijing, but we didn’t see this coming) and made a great start by heading home Serbia’s equalizer against Australia in the opening game. But he was sent off in the final group game vs Argentina.

The accusation is that after Rajković was sent off, he spat at referee Abdullah Al Hilali. FIFA have come down on the youngster like a ton of very angry bureaucratic bricks and handed him a year long ban from football.

Now, obviously spitting is not good. Not good at all. And that goes double for spitting at a ref. It’s definitely a ban worthy offence. But 12 months? For such a young player? Very very harsh. For a player of Rajković’s potential, what happens at the age of 19 is surely massively important. He’s on loan at FC Twente (yep, with Steve McClaren, but it still counts) this season and so could have expected to see some proper first team Eredivisie football. Now - unless his appeal is successful - that’s not going to happen.

Even if he’s guilty, surely a quarter of that ban would be sufficient. If it’s all about teaching the guy a lesson and setting an example then three months, maybe even six months, does just that. But to take away a whole season of football from a teenage player is potentially devastating.

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Category: World Football

Tags: ban, Chelsea, FC Twente, John Terry, Olympics, Serbia, Slobodan Rajković, spitting, suspension, World Football

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Comments   |  Add your comment

• liveD |  September 5th, 2008 at 1:58 am

  
  
  

  I was half expecting it was Terry for spitting at Tevez in CL Final when I read the title in RSS…

  Posted from Malaysia

  

• Bertie |  September 5th, 2008 at 2:12 am

  
  
  

  Should have been

  Posted from United States

  

• matt |  September 5th, 2008 at 5:24 am

  
  
  

  he didn’t spit at Tevez, get over it.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

• Corey |  September 5th, 2008 at 8:37 am

  
  
  

  What a crock of shit, FIFA has lost it.

  Posted from United States

  

• Laurie |  September 5th, 2008 at 8:44 am

  
  
  

  If memory serves, Fabien Barthez got a six-month ban for the same offense — spitting at a referee. (His other longterm suspension came for recreational cannabis use. I love this man.)

  Even six months seemed excessive to me, but this is not something FIFA takes lightly.

  Posted from United States

  

• Michael |  September 5th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  
  
  

  A fucking year? Outrageous.

  Posted from United States

  

• chris |  September 5th, 2008 at 11:05 am

  
  
  

  Roberto Alomar got 5 games. I think that’s about right.

  Posted from United States

  

• Nikola |  September 5th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

  
  
  

  It was widely expected he would recive a 12 months international ban, which would prevent him from playing in the NT, but not for his club. Even that would be harsh, but you couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it and the Serbian NT would probably survive without him. But this is outrageous, this could actually ruin his whole career, and what a career it could’ve been! And not to mention that the Olympics aren’t in FIFA’s calendar, it’s unbeleivable that a player can be so severely punished at an event he doesn’t even have the right to go to and play in according to those very same FIFA rules. It doesn’t have any sense.

  P.S. I know it doesn’t matter now and does not reduce the players’s guilt, but the referee from Oman was very very bad. Every football player, however, must learn to accept injustice and live with many of the officials’ errors, so it doesn’t improve his position whatsoever. It’s a pity, really, it had happened at all.

  Posted from United States

  

• j |  September 5th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

  
  
  

  Surprised to see how lightly people taking order and rules in sport much less society. My how things have changed.

  Posted from Germany

  

• suzanna |  September 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am

  
  
  

  Naughty boy, yes, large fine or small ban, but it was only spitting, not careeer threating to others like some of the things we see most weeks.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

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