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Williefelve, Ronaldces, Jamesestar

Fulham unfairly penalised

last updated Friday 11th May 2001, 1:15 PM
Fulham, 1st Division Champions, just miss out on another trophy for the 2000/2001 season as they have finished second to Crewe in the Nationwide Nationwide Fairplay League.

Positions were decided by a points system that gave each squad 1 pt for a foul, 2pts for a yellow card and 5 pts for a red card. So Fulham were second with an average of just under 12.4 points per match. Well done to Crewe but shame on the Nationwide League.

As can be seen below it seems that Fulham were unfairly penalised by Referees throughout the season. This would have led to players, strikers in the main, being unfairly stopped during games and then unfairly receiving suspensions.

It is hard to explain why the Fulham squad should have been given 70 yellow cards, one of the worst 20 in the league, while only one squad out of the 72, Crewe, committed less fouls!!
Nationwide Fairplay League 2000/2001
Fouls
Yel
Red
Pts
Fpy
1st Crewe
394
42
2
10.6
9.4
2nd Fulham
419
70
2
12.4
6.0
3rd Port Vale
443
59
2
12.4
7.5
           
Nationwide average
550
65
4
15.2
8.5
Division One Average
547
67
3
15.2
8.2
D1 Pormotion Rivals Average
571
64
2
15.5
8.9

When you look at the average number of fouls different clubs committed per yellow (Fpy) the situation is even harder to understand. Fulham were given a yellow card for every 6 fouls the quickest rate in the whole of the Nationwide and Premiership leagues.

If Fulham had been yellow carded at the same rate as their promotion rivals they would have received 23 fewer yellow cards. As can be seen below this apparent bias against Fulham continued throughout the season.

We now have to wait to see if Fulham will be facing a similar bias in the Premiership.


Fulham harshly treated
Rate of yellow cards per fouls 2000/2001






 
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