RIO WOULD STAND GOOD CHANCE IN CIVIL COURT

“The FA might claim the commission is independent but the
three men who sat on it were all from the FA. It's hard to
see how all the publicity that went before the hearing
couldn't have influenced them in some way.

“Mark Palios had already said he wanted tougher sanctions
for drugs offenders and Sepp Blatter was leaning on the FA
even more. It took three months from the offence being
committed to the time the hearing took place, which gave
everyone the opportunity to have their say. That did Rio no
favours at all because it pushed the FA into a corner.

“If you have gone as far as you can in football terms and
you still have a good argument then you have to go to the
courts. I don't see why that should break FIFA rules. The
football authorities clearly have the right to punish
players for things that happen during a game but in this
instance they have banned someone for a long time for
something different entirely.

“If you can see someone has patently been treated unfairly
why shouldn't they be allowed to pursue the matter further?”