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Farcical UEFA charge Griffiths with ‘Provoking’ Linfield fans

By Conall McCourt

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf onto a goalpost which sparked crowd disorder after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf onto a goalpost which sparked crowd disorder after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) /
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European football’s governing body have amazingly opened up disciplinary proceedings against striker Leigh Griffiths for provoking Linfield fans last Friday night.

Griffiths (26) spent the majority of the game dodging missiles being hurled his way when taking corners in front of the home support. He nor the club have issued no statement on whether he is set to accept the charge.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf around the goal post after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf around the goal post after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) /

The charge is in relation to an incident which took place after the game in which the Scot tied a Celtic scarf to the goalposts in front of the 300 travelling hoops fans.

Celtic have also been charged separately for ‘Improper conduct of the team’ as they accrued more than 5 bookings during the game.

‘Provoking spectators’

When issues like this arise a certain degree of common sense has to come in to play. Yes of course the hanging of a scarf to the goalposts of an opposing team can certainly be viewed as ‘provoking’ in nature however, given the fact that Griffiths had been pelted with coins and other objects throughout the game it can hardly be viewed as the reason the Linfield fans were provoked.

The incident happened at the end of the 90 minutes, long after the home support had been throwing objects, singing banned songs and in the case of one spectator invading the pitch.

The UEFA official was seemingly reading directly from the skewed governing bodies handbook when earlier in the game he booked Griffiths for reporting missiles being thrown at him including a ‘Buckfast Bottle’ which narrowly missed the Striker.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic holds up a bottle thrown at him during the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic holds up a bottle thrown at him during the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) /

We perhaps shouldn’t be too surprised at the judgement of the cabal that currently sit within the higher echelons of European football as they have quite a history of bizarre charges against the club.

Some include conduct of players on the pitch while others have included behavior of fans. A full list of charges can be viewed here.

The two fresh cases that arise from the Linfield game are set to be heard by the ‘UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body on 20 July’.

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