Griffiths

By Graham Barnstaple
January 11 2012

Hibs today told the SFA they would appeal the one match ban offered to Leigh Griffiths for his gesture after scoring against Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Cup.

He was charged with “Offensive, Insulting or Abusive Language and/or Gestures.” These were clearly seen on Sportscene on Saturday night, and my immediate reaction was, “he’ll be in trouble for that!!”.

I am unsure what grounds Hibs are appealing against this given Griffiths has already been done for a gesture this season. The gesture against Rangers seemed even tamer than this one and the ban for that was accepted.

I have banged on about this Compliance Officer/Fast track system often enough since it was introduced, but this seems a waste of time once again. Surely Hibs should be asked to detail why they are appealing rather than just merely state they have done so.

It makes the whole process look ridiculous when someone appears to have been caught bang to rights on TV and we have to go through this whole process.

I have believed it will take time for the process to bed in, but maybe there needs to be a punishment for appeals that are unsuccessful. I think we had this in the past when an additional one match ban was added on.

Hopefully we will see the process established and running efficiently and clubs not “abusing” the system in the near future, certainly  before this season is out.