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A must read – The FA release the full written reasons for the judgement in the Jonjo Shelvey hearing

7 years ago
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The FA have released the full ‘Written Reasons’ given in the aftermath of the Jonjo Shelvey.

There is a link below to all 11 pages of the statement.

The bottom line from the case, after reading the written reasons,  appears to be that those hearing the case believed the evidence of the Wolves players who appeared, namely Dominic Iorfa, Matt Doherty, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Daniel Tanveer Batth. The actual player who the Shelvey comments were aimed at, Romain Saiss, didn’t even hear what was said and so gave no useful evidence.

Jonjo Shelvey of course gave evidence, though the hearing found that the evidence gave by his main witnesses, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dwight Gayle, was little use. Not because they were disbelieved necessarily but because basically Mitrovic heard nothing of any use, whilst Gayle could only support what Shelvey was claiming in a minimal way.

Jonjo Shelvey claims he shouted ‘smelly breathed pr@@k’, whilst the Wolves players insist that the Newcastle player used very different words.

Conclusion on breach:

‘The Commission have considered all of the evidence adduced by the parties including the written statements, evidence and notes that were read or referred to in the bundle. It is clear that there is a stark difference in the case presented by the FA and that presented on behalf of Mr Shelvey. There are differences in the accounts given by the witnesses on each side. However it must be borne in mind that the incident occurred during a match where there was a large crowd and a significant amount of noise. The immediate incident for the referee to address was the foul and the sending-off. The possibility of mishearing something that was said or not hearing at all something that was said must be taken into account. It is clear that not all of the witnesses heard everything that Mr Shelvey said. For example Mr Gayle only heard once the comment which Mr Shelvey says he used two or three times and Mr Mitrovic did not hear that comment at all.’

‘The Commission is unanimous as to the findings on the facts. Mr Shelvey did know that Mr Saiss had made a card gesture in support of the sending off. This had made Mr Gayle angry, as he said himself he was “pissed off” and Mr Gayle challenged Mr Saiss over the gesture. We find that it is more likely than not, given how annoyed he was, that Mr Gayle told Mr Shelvey of Mr Saiss’s gesture after which Mr Shelvey began to walk back in the direction of Mr Saiss to express his views on the matter. This is consistent with Mr Shelvey’s own description of himself on page 2 of the interview transcript. In “SS4” timed at 0:34 Mr Shelvey clearly made a card gesture with his hand to indicate the reason for his anger with Mr Saiss and we find this was in fact the reason for his anger that he referred to at page 6 of the interview transcript rather than the alleged earlier comment regarding his baldness as to which he gave no immediate reaction. Our finding in this regard gives rise to serious concern as to the credibility of Mr Shelvey and the reliability of his evidence when we come to consider what words he used.’

‘However even without that finding regarding Mr Shelvey’s credibility, the Commission is satisfied that the evidence of the three main witnesses from WWFC is clearly to be preferred. Their evidence was given with conviction and openness. The certainty with which the witnesses gave their account of what they believed they heard was clear and compelling. The Commission has considered whether the three witnesses could have each misheard the use of the word “Arab” by Mr Shelvey and we conclude that this suggestion is unrealistic. The main witnesses called by the FA taken together with the other evidence and records adduced constituted a formidable case which could not be explained on the basis of the simple mishearing of words. The main witnesses were entirely consistent in respect of what was the central issue in the case, namely whether the word Arab or Arabic was used by Mr Shelvey during the course of what was, on any view, an ill-tempered outburst of offensive language by him towards Mr Saiss which the latter clearly did not hear.

‘The witnesses adduced by Mr Shelvey did not really support his defence to any significant degree. Mr Gayle clearly did not hear all that Mr Shelvey had said even on Mr Shelvey’s account. Mr Mitrovic heard even less than Mr Gayle. Clearly evidence that a witness did not hear something being said does not necessarily mean that it was not said. In respect of Mr Gayle’s evidence that he did not tell Mr Shelvey about the card gesture by Mr Saiss we reject that evidence as improbable given his anger at the time and the other evidence referred to above. In our judgment this was the very thing that precipitated the outburst from Mr Shelvey.’

If you want to read the full FA release of the ‘Written Reasons’ go here.

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