From: srd@ukc.ac.uk (S.R.Davies)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Re: UEFA DISGRACE: RE: Leeds v Stuttgart
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:11:33 GMT
Reply-To: srd@ukc.ac.uk (S.R.Davies)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

In article <1992Oct6.103307.9284@vax.oxford.ac.uk> stuart@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>
>Apart from the most ardent Stuttgart fan does anyone think the UEFA decision is
>correct/fair/justifiable?
>
>Stuttgart, quite simply, are a bunch of bloody cheats. There is no possible way
>that the German management could have forgotten that even to have 4 foreign
>players was breaking the rules. They had to hand in their passports for god's
>sake! The excuse that it was done in the heat of the moment is without any
>substance and just a damn lie. They had two weeks to prepare for that match and
>they knew exactly what they were doing. It was cold and calculated, banking on
>the fact that UEFA would never throw the Bundesliga champs out of any
>competition. How right they were.
>

	Well, I think there has been a lot of illogical ranting going
 on concerning this matter. Various posters have accused EUFA of changing
 the rules, which of course is not true. Many people seem to be confusing
 "the rules" with "the penalties imposed for breaking the rules". It is
 now well known that it is against the rules for a team to have more than
 3 non-assimilated foreign players in the squad. It is not so well known
 what the penalties are for breaking this rule. Many posters have ranted 
 away, claiming that Vfb Stuttgart should be thrown out of the competition
 for breaking this rule. Well, it is their prerogative to hold the view
 that this is what _should_ happen, but that doesn't make it the official
 view. The standard practice of EUFA is that for serious infringements
 (such as crowd violence halting a game) the offending team is thrown out
 of the tournament, and usually banned. For technical offences (such as
 fielding an ineligible player), the tie is awarded to the other team 3 - 0
 (as with Leeds Utd. - Vfb Stuttgart).

	As for Vfb Stuttgart doing it deliberately, I don't think so for
 the following reasons :
     This is the first year that the number of foreigners is limited to 3.
 Last year it was OK to have 4, and even now it is OK to have 4 under
 certain circumstances, e.g. Leeds played with 4 foreigners (legally).
     They were breaking this rule as soon as they handed in their squad
 list ... before they even started playing the second leg match. I can't
 believe they would risk everything just to include some guy in the squad
 who they only bother to bring on for the last 7 minutes of the game.
 Bear in mind also that they were defending an extremely good first leg
 result, hardly calling for desperate tactics.
     Also, 2 of their foreigners were only substitutes, hardly key players
 good enough to command a place in the first-choice team.

	All in all, I think Leeds fans should just be relieved that their
 team has a second chance to do what they failed to do in the first place
 .... win the tie against Vfb Stuttgart.

	On a lighter note :

  Q. What is the difference between Vfb Stuttgart and the Bank of England ?

  A. Vfb Stuttgart have got more foreign reserves !

 Regards, Steve.