FA hammer a split-second handball but let West Ham’s Taty Castellanos off the hook despite blatant cheating — it’s crazy

THE FA are living in cloud cuckoo land. And their latest absurd retrospective ban proves just how out of touch they really are. Aune Heggebo celebrates his opening goal for West Brom at Norwich last weekend Credit: Alamy But FA bigwigs handed him a two-game ban after adjudging he had successfully deceived an official because he scored with his arm Credit: Sky Sports West Brom forward Aune Heggebo was slapped with a two-match suspension for “successfully deceiving a match official” after scoring against Norwich last weekend. The ball deflected off the keeper and hit his arm just 0.1 seconds before going into the net. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! It was an instinctive, split-second movement as he threw himself at the ball. Did the ball hit his arm? Yes. Did Heggebo know much about it? Not a chance. Yet the decision-makers in So decided Heggebo is a master fraudster. Are we seriously suggesting Heggebo should have run up to the referee and confessed? Can you imagine the outrage from Baggies fans if he marched over and said: “Sorry ref, I handled it”? He would not have been a popular figure in his dressing room, that is for sure. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS We all love to remember former West Ham star Paolo Di Canio catching the ball instead of scoring when Everton keeper Paul Gerrard went down injured. Robbie Fowler once famously tried to persuade a ref not to give a penalty against Arsenal. Those moments of supreme sportsmanship are wonderful — but let’s get real. By banning Heggebo, the FA are setting a bizarre precedent where players are effectively expected to self-referee on the pitch. Are we really moving toward a game where a striker faces a multi-match ban unless he immediately stops play and admits to an accidental touch? Modern footballers dive constantly and try to deceive officials every single week. Take West Ham striker Taty Castellanos against Charlton on Saturday. The Argentine took a blatant, pre-meditated dive inside the box to try and win a penalty. He was correctly booked by referee Andrew Kitchen for simulation. Taty knew exactly what he was doing long before his boots left the turf. His intent to cheat the official and the opposition was 100 per cent clear. So how on earth is an involuntary handball judged worse than a deliberate dive? The only difference is that Taty was unsuccessful in his attempt to fool the ref. Why should a player escape serious punishment just because the referee caught him in the act? West Ham’s Taty takes a tumble in the box which led to his booking from ref Andrew Kitchen Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Paolo Di Canio received a special sportsmanship award from Everton’s Paul Gerrard Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd If the FA are truly serious about stamping out deceit, intent must be punished severely. Taty’s yellow card for that shameless plunge should be retroactively upgraded to a red. Instead, the rulemakers let deliberate cheaters off with a slap on the wrist while hammering accidental handballs. It is absolute madness from blazers who simply do not understand the reality of professional football. There is no VAR in the Championship and most fans, myself included, agree that is a good thing. We accept human error as part of the natural rhythm of the game. West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos appeared to be fouled before Charlton scored their second goal at the London Stadium. With VAR, that goal may have been chalked off. Yet we take the rough with the smooth because the alternative is endless delays. But if the FA are going to sit in offices on Monday morning re-refereeing matches, what is the point? If they are going to hand out stupid retrospective bans, they might as well just bring in VAR. This half-baked middle ground is creating the absolute worst of both worlds for EFL clubs. Did Heggebo intend to cheat? No. Did Taty intend to cheat? Absolutely. It is time the FA stopped punishing split-second accidents and started cracking down on actual cheats. Millwall looking down at West Ham THE Lions are roaring and Bermondsey is buzzing this morning. Millwall fans are gleefully looking down on West Ham in the Championship table right now. And Alex Neil has turned this side into the real deal, brushing off last season’s heartbreaking play-off semi-final loss to Hull. And the latest gem to be plucked out of nowhere is striker Taïryk Arconte. The Guadeloupe international looks unplayable, proving once again that while rivals splash millions on big names, the Lions quietly find proper talent. How much more pain for Leicester? RUSSELL MARTIN is putting Leicester through early pain after back-to-back defeats has left them reeling in League One. The new boss is facing serious heat as his signature style stutters out of the blocks at the King Power Stadium. Martin always seems to put his teams through torture early on, as Southampton fans know only too well. He eventually steered them to promotion — but how much patience will Leicester fans have? Crashing into the third tier was already a bitter pill to swallow. Now watching their side drop six points from six has alarm bells ringing loudly across the East Midlands. My view is — especially in the third tier — pragmatic football is the best way to go. But Martin’s stubborn refusal to alter his possession-heavy tactics is already putting his personal reputation massively on the line. If results do not turn around fast, the King Power crowd could turn toxic before the season even starts. Comment now