Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway has claimed his captain Ollie Clarke would not have been found guilty of foul play if the incident that resulted in his seven-match ban had been handled by police.
The FA issued Clarke, 33, with a lengthy ban and £2,750 fine after he was found to have committed highly violating acts of foul play on two opponents, who remain anonymous, during Swindon Town’s clash at Cardiff City on August 12 last year.
Shocking details of the FA’s investigation were published on Tuesday revealing that one of Cardiff City’s players was left ‘very emotional and struggling to speak’ after the incidents, which occurred in the 57th minute and the 94th minute of the match, occurred.
One of the victims was described by the referee Elliot Bell of approaching him ‘visibly upset’ to tell him about what had happened.
Bell included the detail in his official match report and an Independent Regulatory Commission heard evidence from the Swindon captain. Clarke admitted the charges in the hearing and gave explanations for them, arguing that both incidents were unintentional – a claim rejected by the panel.
There was ‘no plausible explanation’ for Clarke’s behaviour, said the panel, insisting that ‘touching an opponent’s private body parts during a game’, especially when the ball was out of play, was a ‘highly invasive, intrusive and violating’ act.
Ian Holloway has claimed Swindon captain Ollie Clarke would not have been found guilty of foul play if the incident that resulted in his seven-match ban had been handled by police
Clarke (left), pictured in the game against Cardiff in which the incidents took place last August. There is no suggestion Cardiff player Callum Robinson (right) was one of the opponents affected by Clarke’s behaviour
The above was provided as detail for the hearing by referee Elliot Bell from his match report
They also described the incidents as ‘extremely serious and unusual’.
Holloway, furious with the decision, has now claimed that Clarke would have been cleared if the case had been dealt with by police as he hit out at the FA over the ‘disgraceful’ process.
The 62-year-old manager said: ‘I vouched for his character, and I know he’s competitive, and he wouldn’t have meant anything that he’s allegedly done.’
‘We tried to fight it. It took so long, it was disgraceful. They drew it out, and now he’s got such a hefty ban. It was an unfair decision, in my opinion. But there you go.
‘For me, it hasn’t affected the way I feel about him, not in any way, shape or form. I saw what he did. I’ve watched it back. And for me, it was nonsense. That’s the way the game is these days, and that’s the way they see it.
‘But I would have rather they reported him to the police, and the police would have let him off, because there’s no evidence, simple as that.’
After the hearing, Holloway also raged that the ban was ‘ridiculous’ and defended Clarke as being a ‘hard-working and aggressive’ player.
He told the Swindon Advertiser last month: ‘It’s actually a ridiculous amount of games compared to some of the other things I’ve seen in football throughout my time.
Clarke (pictured) was given a seven-game ban for the ‘extremely serious and unusual incident’
‘I don’t understand how it’s taken this long to deal with it, and our process of talking to them and appealing and all that is absolute nonsense.
‘I feel for Ollie, and the lads do,’ he added. ‘He’s honest, hard-working and aggressive — what more do you need? But is he overly aggressive? I don’t think so.’
South Wales Police confirmed to Daily Mail Sport on Wednesday that they had no involvement in the incident or the FA’s decision, which was issued last month.
The stunned and shaken reaction of one of the victims was factored in when Clarke’s punishment was determined.
‘In respect of Charge 1, the Commission considered the actions of the Player to be highly violating and intentional foul play,’ the written reasons stated.
It continued: ‘In respect of Charge 2, the Commission considered the actions of the Player to, again, be highly violating and intentional foul play, with the further aggravated factor of the incident occurring 37 minutes after the first incident within the same match.’
‘The indecency of this action requires an immediate sporting sanction of no less than six matches,’ they surmised.
‘Taking both incidents together, the panel applied a starting point of nine matches before reducing the punishment to seven under the principle of totality.’
Holloway labelled the FA’s process ‘disgraceful’ as he hit out at the ‘unfair’ decision
In response to the written reasons, Swindon released a statement on the club website. It read: ‘Swindon Town Football Club acknowledges the written reasons published by the FA in respect of Ollie Clarke, following the recent Regulatory Commission decision.
‘Throughout the process, Ollie Clarke maintained his innocence and only admitted the charges on the basis that both charges were unintentional.
‘The club continues to support Ollie and will do so moving forward. Swindon Town Football Club will be making no further comment at this time.’
