Ex-Premier League referee: Police will not be happy at Paterson after Swansea v Cardiff controversy
The police will not be happy with Jamie Paterson after his controversial celebration when he scored for Swansea City in their 3-0 win over Cardiff City.
That is the view of ex-Premier League and Fifa referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the incident that could lead to an FA punishment.
Paterson opened the scoring for the hosts on Sunday with a stunning long-range strike but celebrated by pretending to swim.
It was a reference to a clash between Swansea and Cardiff fans in 1988 when 30 Cardiff supporters were forced to swim away.
The Express report Jonjo Shelvey performed a similar celebration in a south Wales derby in 2013 and received an FA charge as a result.
“If the FA has seen it and the precedent has been set, they’ll be on it this morning,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“What we’ve got to understand why the celebration of a goal is part of football but players have to be restrained. The major risk when a player leaves the field of play to celebrate is a surge from the spectators. That surge, if you’ve got 15 rows of spectators piling forward and you’ve got a youngster in the front row, potentially you’ve got a damaging situation.
“The police don’t like it. They advise referees that they want that sort of thing stopped. That’s why the law was changed to bring yellow cards in for shirt removal and all those aspects.
“The job of the referee is to be prepared and to apply the law. You don’t go on history. The referee has to be aware of the two teams, the tactics they might use, who’s on the substitutes bench.
“I would look at the subs bench I would think ‘If he brings him on, I know there’s going to be a bit of trouble. My afternoon is going to be ruined by that one player’.”
In other news, a senior figure could be Banned as Swansea City footage goes viral.