The English FA isn't going to charge Branislav Ivanovic for his role in Wednesday's altercation between Chelsea and Everton players, despite a public outcry over his supposed headbutt and what looked like a pretty good choke-hold on James McCarthy. That's perhaps not a surprise - the match referee was right there in the middle of the scrum, and didn't hand out any cards for what happened.
Chelsea and Everton charged by FA over player skirmish
Wednesday’s match between Chelsea and Everton was marred by a heated scuffle between the two teams, and the FA is not amused.
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What the FA will do, however, is slap down both clubs for allowing the fracas to happen in the first place:
BREAKING: FA charge Chelsea and Everton with failing to control their players in last night's game. #SSNHQ
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) February 12, 2015 What exactly the charges will mean is not immediately clear, though it will most likely just wind up in a wrist-slap fine for both clubs. It was definitely an unnecessary mess that marred an otherwise well-played 1-0 win for Chelsea, with the winning goal coming within moments of the skirmish breaking out, but anything more than a simple fine would probably be over the top as far as responses go.
Still, hopefully this will send a bit of a message to the league as a whole to try and keep these sorts of incidents in check. While this incident on a whole wasn’t a particularly major fight, preventing larger, uglier conflicts in the future is a priority. The last thing the FA needs is players getting seriously hurt in a fight on the pitch.
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