Crystal Palace striker Wilfried Zaha has been slapped with a one match suspension after he found guilty of improper conduct during a match with Leeds United last week. He was being changed for posing his finger up on Leeds supporters which was taken as an obscene gesture posed by a player; however, fans are free to make any such gestures on players! Eagles manager Ian Holloway was also charged for a misconduct during the same match. They were given March 15 as a deadline to respond to their side and after hearing their side, it was decided that he should be banned for one match, which mean he will not be a part of his team who is going to play with Birmingham City in a home clash. Besides, he is also asked to pay £3,000 by football associations’ disciplinary committee. Zaha has been a regular player for Palace and played 35 league matches out of 37 in total, and performance wise he scored only six times in that. Such a behavior was marked as unprofessional by everyone coz his action was seen by millions of viewers and fans are known for their exaggerated retaliation; hence he should have taken some precaution before posing such a wild reaction.
Citing the rising demand, he apologized to all Leeds United fans next day via tweeter but it was too late by then coz he was already given a notice to respond within a week. He himself accepted his action as unprofessional and tweeted, “I…wanted to apologise for the gesture I did towards the Leeds fans in yesterday’s game. Very unprofessional from me.” Moreover, his unethical action has also been criticized by Manchester United, who has signed him during January and loaned back to Palace until the end of the season. United said, he should mind his attitude during a match coz any such violation will not be tolerated at Old Trafford.
During his defense, he said that fans were racially abusing him and that is why he had to show them his finger else he had no intention to hurt anyone then, but disciplinary committee found enough meat in his case and penalized the striker with one match ban. He also said that since it was his first such offence he should be just warned not punished but hearing panel did not impress with his virgin record as well.