Harry Kewell's red card could go from deep hole to loophole

Herald Sun

David Davutovic
June 21, 2010 12:00am

HARRY Kewell used just two words to describe his devastation, when he texted his wife after his controversial red card: "Absolutely gutted."

Kewell's wife, Sheree Murphy, has described how distraught the striker is despite his brave face after the 1-1 draw with Ghana.

But in a surprise move, Australian officials were working through the night to try to find a loophole to help Kewell dodge his automatic one-match ban. They want him to play in Thursday morning's must-win game against Serbia.

An emotional Murphy revealed: "I sent him a text to see how he was. He wrote two words - 'Absolutely gutted'.

"It means so much to him to play for his country, and I feel so bad for him because I know how hard he's worked to get here, and to finally get to play and be playing so well, for this to happen, what can I say?"

Keeper Mark Schwarzer revealed that according to a DVD presentation by a FIFA refereeing official before the tournament, Ghana should not have been awarded the penalty.

The DVD could be used as evidence should FFA decide to appeal. Schwarzer said: "They showed what the referees are looking at, and by his interpretation before the tournament that shouldn't have even been a penalty, it should've been play on.

"An exact incident like that was shown to us and as far as the instructor was concerned it wasn't a red card, yellow card and not even a handball.

"They showed many instances of handballs and various fouls. Ironically there were two decisions that weren't given to us but should've been from 2006 against Croatia and one was a (deliberate) handball.

"It's very frustrating because you work very hard to get to this point and you expect to, at the very least, get a fair rub of the green." The controversy continues Kewell's emotional World Cup roller-coaster. Four years ago his World Cup was ended by a mysterious toe infection just days after scoring the vital goal against Croatia.

Now he faces the prospect of leaving South Africa having played just 25 minutes.

Winger Brett Emerton sat next to Kewell during his 2006 heartache of watching the second round match against Italy on crutches. And he was again beside Kewell when he saw the replay of the incident in the rooms post-match.

"Most of us watched the replay, including Harry, and all the boys felt hard done by, but especially him," said Emerton.

"He's worked exceptionally hard to get fit and to play only 25 minutes is disappointing, but hopefully we can do a good job and get him back on the pitch in the second round.

"I saw the replay and Harry hasn't moved his arms whatsoever, the ball's hit him just below the shoulder, so it's definitely not a penalty. He's a great player and he showed even in 25 minutes that he's a great asset to the team and he's a big loss, unfortunately."

And Murphy, who watched in the stands with their three children - Taylor, Ruby and Matilda - defended her husband in the wake of recent criticism while admitting it was excruciating watching from the Rustenburg stands.

"I just could not believe it. I kept asking people around me what happened because it didn't look like a penalty from where we were sitting.

"At least people saw that he wasn't just making things up when he said he was fully fit.

"Some things that have been said were so nasty and hurtful. But everyone saw how good he still is."



An FFA spokesperson said of a possible appeal to FIFA: "We will scrutinise the incident and the rule book, and look to prepare a submission."

As far as I'm aware, there is no appeals process with FIFA in this circumstance.